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THE    FIVE    NATIONS 


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The   Five  Nations 


By  Rudyard  Kipling 


NEW  YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE   &  CO. 

1903 


Copyright,  igo},  br 

Rudyard  Kipling 

Poblisbed,  October.  igoi 


THE    CAZTON    PBK8S 
Viw  TOBX  CITT,  V.B.A. 


DEDICATION 

Before  a  midnight  breaks  in  storm, 

Or  herded  sea  in  wrath. 
Ye  know  what  wavering  gusts  inform 
The  greater  tempest's  path; 
Till  the  loosed  wind 
Drive  all  from  mind, 
Except  Distress,  which,  so  will  prophets  cry. 
Overcame  them,  houseless,  from  the  unhinting  sky 

Ere  rivers  league  against  the  land 

In  piratry  of  flood. 
Ye  know  what  waters  slip  and  stand 
Where  seldom  water  stood. 
Yet  who  will  note. 
Till  fields  afloat. 
And  washen  carcass  and  the  returning  well, 
Trumpet  what  these  poor  heralds  strove  to  tell  f 

Ye  know  who  use  the  Crystal  Ball 
{To  peer  by  stealth  on  Doom), 


vi  DEDICATION 

The  Shade  that,  shaping  first  of  all, 
Prepares  an  empty  room. 

Then  doth  It  pass 

Like  breath  from  glass, 
But,  on  the  extorted  vision  bowed  intent. 
No  man  considers  why  It  came  or  went. 

Before  the  years  reborn  behold 

Themselves  with  stranger  eye. 
And  the  sport-making  Gods  of  old. 
Like  Samson  slaying,  die, 
Many  shall  hear 
The  all-pregnant  sphere, 
Bow  to  the  birth  and  sweat,  but — speech  denied — 
Sit  dumb  or — dealt  in  part — fall  weak  and  wide. 

Yet  instant  to  fore-shadowed  need 

The  eternal  balance  swings; 
That  winged  men  the  Fates  may  breed 
So  soon  as  Fate  hath  wings. 
These  shall  possess 
Our  littleness. 
And  in  the  imperial  task  (as  worthy)  lay 
Up  our  lives'  all  to  piece  one  giant  day. 


CONTENTS 

DEDICATION 

Before  a  midnight  breaks  in  storm^     .  v 

THE  SEA  AND  THE  HILLS 

Who   hath   desired   the    Sea? — the 

sight  of  salt  water  unboimded,       .  i 

THE  BELL  BUOY 

They  christened  my  brother  of  old,    .  4 

CRUISERS 

As  our  mother  the  Frigate,  bepainted 

and  fine, 8 

THE  DESTROYERS 

The  strength  of  twice  three  thousand 
horse, 11 

WHITE  HORSES 

Where  run  your  colts  at  pasture  ?         .         15 

THE  SECOND  VOYAGE 

We've    sent    our   little    Cupids    all 

ashore, 20 

vii 


viii  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

PAOK 

THE  DYKES 

We  have  no  heart  for  the  fishing,  we 

have  no  hand  for  the  oar,     .         .         23 

THE  SONG  OF  DIEGO  VALDEZ 

The  God  of  Fair  Beginnings,     .         .         28 

THE  BROKEN  MEN 

For  things  we  never  mention,         .         34 

THE  FEET  OF  THE  YOUNG  MEN 
Now  the  Four-way  Lodge  is  opened, 

now  the  Hunting  Winds  are  loose,         38 

THE  TRUCE  OF  THE  BEAR 

Yearly,  with  tent  and  rifle,  our  care- 
less white  men  go,  .  .         44 

THE  OLD  MEN 

This  is  our  lot  if  we  live  so  long  and 
labour  unto  the  end,         ...         49 

THE  EXPLORER 

"  There's  no  sense  in  going  further — 

it's  the  edge  of  cultivation," .         .         52 

THE  WAGE-SLAVES 

Oh  glorious  are  the  guarded  heights,         60 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAOB 

THE  BURIAL 

When  that  great   Kings  return  to 

clay, 63 

GENERAL  JOUBERT 

With  those  that   bred,   with  those 

that  loosed  the  strife,     ...         65 

THE  PALACE 

When  I  was  a  King  and  a  Mason — a 

Master  proven  and  skilled,     .         .         66 

SUSSEX 

God  gave  all  men  all  earth  to  love,     .        69 

SONG  OF  THE  WISE  CHILDREN 
When  the  darkened  Fifties  dip  to  the 

North, 74 

BUDDHA  AT  KAMAKURA 

Oh  ye  who  tread  the  Narrow  Way,     .         76 

THE  WHITE  MAN'S  BURDEN 

Take  up  the  White  Man's  burden,     .         79 

PHARAOH  AND  THE  SERGEANT 
Said  England  unto  Pharaoh,  "  I  must 

make  a  man  of  you,       ...         82 

OUR  LADY  OF  THE  SNOWS 

A  Nation  spoke  to  a  Nation,     .         .         87 


X  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

rAAB 

"  ET  DONA  FERENTES  " 

In  extended  observation  of  the  ways 
and  works  of  man,        ...        90 

KITCHENER'S  SCHOOL 

Oh  Hubshee,  carry  your  shoes  in 
your  hand  and  bow  your  head  on 
your  breast, 95 

THE  YOUNG  QUEEN 

Her  hand  was  still  on  her  sword-hilt, 
the  spur  was  still  on  her  heel,         .      xoo 

RIMMON 

Duly  with  knees  that  feign  to  quake,       104 

THE  OLD  ISSUE 

''Here  is  nothing  new  nor  aught 
unproven,"  say  the  Trumpets,         .       107 

BRIDGE-GUARD  IN  THE  KARROO 

Sudden  the  desert  changes,       .         .       113 

THE  LESSON 

Let  us  admit  it  fairly,  as  a  business 

people  should,         .         .         .         .117 

THE  FILES 

Files,        .        .        .         j.        .        .       131 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAOB 

THE  REFORMERS 

Not  in  the  camp  his  victory  lies,  .       126 

DIRGE  OP  DEAD  SISTERS 

Who  recalls   the   twilight   and   the 

ranged  tents  in  order,    .         .  129 

THE  ISLANDERS 

No  doubt  but  ye  are  the  People — your 

throne  is  above  the  King's,      .         .       133 

THE  PEACE  OF  DIVES 

The  Word  came  down  to  Dives  in 

Torment  where  he  lay,  .  141 

SOUTH  AFRICA 

Lived  a  woman  wonderful,        .         .       149 

THE  SETTLER 

Here,  where  my  fresh-turned  furrows 
run, 153 

Service  Songs 

CHANT-PAGAN 

Me  that  'ave  been  what  I  ve  been,      .       159 

M.  I. 

I  wish  my  mother  could  see  me  now, 

with  a  fence-post  under  my  arm,    .       163 


xii  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

PAOB 

COLUMNS 

Out  o'  the  wilderness,  dusty  an'  dry,       170 

THE  PARTING  OF  THE  COLUMNS 
We've  rode  and  fought  and  ate  and 

drunk  as  rations  come  to  hand,       .       175 

TWO  KOPJES 

Only  two  African  kopjes,  .         .         .       179 

THE  INSTRUCTOR 

At  times  when  under  cover  I  'ave 

said, 183 

BOOTS 

We're   foot — slog — slog — slog — slog- 
gin'  over  Africa,    .  .         .185 

THE  MARRIED  MAN 

The  bachelor 'e  fights  for  one,    .         .       188 

LICHTENBERG 

Smells    are    surer    than    sounds    or 

sights, 191 

STELLENBOSH 

The  General  'eard  the  firin'  on  the 

flank,    ......       194 

HALF-BALLAD  OF  WATERVAL 

When  by  the  labour  of  my  'ands,      .       197 


CONTENTS  xiii 

rASB 

PIET 

I  do  not  love  my  Empire's  foes,         .       199 

"WILFUL-MISSING" 

There  is  a  world  outside  the  one  yon 

know 204 

UBIQUE 

There  is  a  word  you  often  see,  pro- 
nounce it  as  you  may,  .         .         .       206 

THE  RETURN 

Peace  is  declared,  an'  I  return, .         .       210 

RECESSIONAL 

God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old,       .       214 


THE    FIVE    NATIONS 


THE  SEA  AND  THE   HILLS 

Who  hath  desired  the  Sea  ? — the  sight  of  salt 
water  unbounded — 

The  heave  and  the  halt  and  the  hurl  and  the 
crash  of  the  comber  wind-hounded  ? 

The   sleek-barrelled   swell   before   storm,  grey, 
foamless,  enormous,  and  growing — 

Stark  calm  on  the  lap  of  the  Line  or  the  crazy- 
eyed  hurricane  blowing — 

His  Sea  is  no  showing  the  same — his  Sea  and 
the  same  'neath  each  showing — 

His  Sea  as  she  slackens  or  thrills  ? 

So  and  no  otherwise — so  and  no  otherwise  hill- 
men  desire  their  Hills ! 

Who  hath  desired  the  Sea? — the  immense  and 

contemptuous  surges? 
The  shudder,  the  stumble,  the  swerve,  as  the 

star-stabbing  bowsprit   emerges? 


a  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

The  orderly  clouds  of  the  Trades,  and  the  ridged, 
roaring  sapphire  thereunder — 

Unheralded  cliff-haimting  flaws  and  the  head- 
sail's  low- volleying  thunder — 

His  Sea  in  no  wonder  the  same — his  Sea  and  the 
same  through  each  wonder: 

His  Sea  as  she  rages  or  stills  ? 

So  and  no  otherwise — so  and  no  otherwise  hill- 
men  desire  their  Hills. 


Who  hath  desired  the  Sea  ?     Her  menaces  swift 
as  her  mercies, 

The  in-rolling  walls  of  the  fog  and  the  silver- 
winged  breeze  that  disperses  ? 

The  unstable  mined  berg  going  South  and  the 
calvings  and  groans  that  declare  it; 

White  water  half -guessed  overside  and  the  moon 
breaking  timely  to  bear  it; 

His  Sea  as  his  fathers  have  dared — his  Sea  as  his 
children  shall  dare  it — 

His  Sea  as  she  serves  him  or  kills  ? 

So  and  no  otherwise — so  and  no  otherwise  hill- 
men  desire  their  Hills. 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  HILLS  3 

Who   hath    desired    the    Sea?      Her  excellent 

loneliness  rather 
Than  forecourts  of  kings,  and  her  outermost  pits 

than  the  streets  where  men  gather 
Inland,  among  dust,  under  trees — inland  where 

the  slayer  may  slay  him 
Inland,  out  of  reach  of  her  arms,  and  the  bosom 

whereon  he  must  lay  him — 
His  Sea  at  the  first  that  betrayed — at  the  last 

that  shall  never  betray  him — 

His  Sea  that  his  being  fulfils  ? 
So   and  no    otherwise — so    and    no    otherwise 

hillmen  desire  their  Hills. 


THE  BELL  BUOY 

They  christened  my  brother  of  old — 

And  a  saintly  name  he  bears — 
They  gave  him  his  place  to  hold 

At  the  head  of  the  belfry-stairs, 

Where  the  minster-towers  stand 
And  the  breeding  kestrels  cry. 

Would  I   change  with  my  brother  a  league 
inland  ? 
(Shoal!     'Ware  shoal!)     Not  I! 

In  the  flu^h  of  the  hot  June  prime, 

O'er  smooth  flood-tides  afire, 
I  hear  him  hurry  the  chime 

To  the  bidding  of  checked  Desire; 

Till  the  sweated  ringers  tire 
And  the  wild  bob-majors  die.  v  ^     .  ' 

Could  I  wait  for  my  turn  in  the  godly  cnipir? 
(Shoal !     'Ware  shoal !)     Not  I ! 

Ciipjii(bt,  law,  b;  Eadjird  KlpUa( 


THE  BELL  BUOY  5 

When  the  smoking  scud  is  blown, 

When  the  greasy  wind-rack  lowers, 
Apart  and  at  peace  and  alone, 

He  counts  the  changeless  hours. 

He  wars  with  darkling  Powers 
(I  war  with  a  darkling  sea); 

Would  he  stoop  to  my  work  in  the  gusty  mirk  ? 
(Shoal  I     '  Ware  shoal !)     Not  he  I 

There  was  never  a  priest  to  pray. 

There  was  never  a  hand  to  l^oll. 
When  they  made  me  guard  of  the  bay, 

And  moored  me  over  the  shoal. 

I  rock,  I  reel,  and  I  roll — 
My  four  great  hammers  ply — 

Could  I  speak  or  be  still  at  the  Church's  will  ? 
{Shoal!     'Ware  shoal!)     Not  I ! 

The  landward  marks  have  failed, 

The  fog-bank  glides  unguessed, 
The  seaward  lights  are  veiled. 

The  spent  deep  feigns  her  rest: 

But  my  ear  is  laid  to  her  breast. 


THE  FIVE  NATIONS 


I  lift  to  the  swell — I  cry ! 

Could  I  wait  in  sloth  On  the  Church's  oath  ? 
{Shoal!     'Ware  shoal!)     Not  I ! 


At  the  careless  end  of  night 

I  thrill  to  the  nearing  screw, 
I  turn  m  the  nearing  light 

And  I  call  to  the  drowsy  crew ; 

And  the  mud  boils  foul  and  blue 
As  the  blind  bow  backs  away.  v 

Will  they  give  me  their  thanks  if  they  clear 
the  banks? 
(Slwal !     'Ware  shoal !)     Not  they ! 


The  beach-pools  cake  and  skim, 

The  bursting  spray -heads  freeze, 
I  gather  on  crown  and  rim 

The  greyi"  grained  ice  of  the  seas, 

Where,  sheathed  from  bitt  to  trees. 
The  plunging  colliers  lie. 

Would  I  barter  my  place  for  the  Church's 
grace  ? 
{Shoal!     'Ware sltoal !)     Not  I ! 


THE  BELL  BUOY  7 

Through  the  blur  of  the  whirling  snow, 

Or  the  black  of  the  inky  sleet, 
The  lanterns  gather  and  grow, 

And  I  look  for  the  homeward  fleet. 

Rattle  of  block  and  sheet — 
"Ready  about-^stand  by!" 

Shall  I  ask  them  a  fee  ere  they  fetch  the  quay  ? 
(Shoal!     Ware  shoal!)     Not  I ! 

I  dip  and  I  surge  and  I  swing 

In  the  rip  of  the  racing  tide, 
By  the  gates  of  aoom  I  sing, 

On  the  horns  of  aeath  I  ride. 

A  ship-length  overside. 
Between  the  course  and  the  sand, 

Fretted  and  bound  I  bide 
Peril  whereof  I  cry. 

Would  I  change  with  my  brother  a  league 
inland  ? 
(Shoal !     Ware  shoal !)     Not  I ! 


CRUISERS 

As  our  mother  the  Frigate,  bepainted  and  fine, 
Made  play  for  her  bully  the  Ship  of  the  Line ; 
So  we,  her  bold  daughters  by  iron  and  fire, 
Accost  and  decoy  to  our  masters'  desire. 

Now  pray  you  consider  what  toils  we  endure, 
Night-walking  wet    sea-lanes,  a  guard    and    a 

lure; 
Since  half  of  our  trade  is  that  same  pretty  sort 
As  mettlesome  wenches  do  practise  in  port. 

For  this  is  our  office :  to  spy  and  make  room, 
As  hiding  yet  guiding  the  foe  to  their  doom; 
Surrounding,  confounding,  to  bait  and  betray 
And    tempt    them    to    battle  the  seas'  width 
away. 

The  pot-bellied  merchant  foreboding  no  wrong 
With  headlight  and  sidelight  he  lieth  along, 
Till,  lightless  and  lightfoot  and  lurking,  leap  we 
To  force  him  discover  his  business  by  sea. 

8 


CRUISERS  9 

And  when  we  have  wakened  the  lust  of  a  foe, 
To  draw  him  by  flight  toward  our  bullies  we  go, 
Till,  'ware  of  strange  smoke  stealing  nearer,  he 

flies — 
Or  our  bullies  close  in  for  to  make  him  good 

prize. 

So,  when  we  have  spied  on  the  path  of  their  host, 
One  flieth  to  carry  that  word  to  the  coast ; 
And,  lest  by  false  doubling  they  turn  and  go  free, 
One  lieth  behind  them  to  follow  and  see. 

Anon  we  return,  being  gathered  again, 
Across  the  sad  valleys  all  drabbled  with  rain — 
Across  the  grey  ridges  all  crisped  and  curled — 
To  join  the  long  dance  round  the  curve  of  the 
world. 

The  bitter  salt  spindrift :  the  sun -glare  likewise : 
The    moon-track  a-quiver  bewilders  our  eyes. 
Where,  linking  and  lifting,  our  sisters  we  hail 
'Twixt  wrench  of  cross-surges  or  plunge  of  head- 
gale. 

As  maidens  awaiting  the  bride  to  come  forth 
Make  play  with  light  jestings  and   wit   of  no 
worth. 


lo  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

So,  widdershins  circling  the  bride-bed  of  death, 
Each  fleereth  her  neighbour  and  signeth  and 
saith: — 

"What  see  ye?     Their  signals,  or  levin  afar? 

"What  hear  ye?  God's  thunder,  or  guns  of 
our  war  ? 

"What  mark  ye?  Their  smoke,  or  the  cloud- 
rack  outblown  ? 

"What  chase  ye?  Their  lights,  or  the  Day- 
star  low  down?" 

So,  times  past   all   number   deceived   by  false 

shows. 
Deceiving  we  cumber  the  road  of  our  foes. 
For  this  is  our  virtue :  to  track  and  betray ; 
Preparing  great  battles  a  sea's  width  away. 

Now  peace  is  at  end  and  our  peoples  take  heart, 
For  the   laws  are  clean  gone  that  restrained  our 

art; 
Up  and  down  the  near  headlands  and  against  the 
jar   wind 
We  are  loosed  {0  he  swift!)  to  ilie  work  of  our 
kind  ! 


THE  DESTROYERS 

The  strength  of  twice  three  thousand  horse 

That  seek  the  single  goal; 
The  line  that  holds  the  rending  course, 

The  hate  that  swings  the  whole: 
The  stripped  hulls,  slinking  through  tJte  gloom. 

At  gaze  and  gone  again — 
The  Brides  of  Death  that  wait  the  groom — 

The  Choosers  of  the  Slain  ! 


Offshore  where  sea  and  skyline  blend 

In  rain,  the  daylight  dies ; 
The  sullen,^  shouldering  swells  attend 

Night  and  our  sacrifice. 
Adown  the  stricken  capes  no  flare — 

No  mark  on  spit  or  bar, — 
Girdled  and  desperate  w^e  dare 

The  blindfold  game  of  war. 
II 


12  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Nearer  the  up-flimg  beams  that  spell 

The  council  of  our  foes ; 
Clearer  the  barking  guns  that  tell 

Their  scattered  flank  to  close. 
Sheer  to  the  trap  they  crowd  their  way 

From  ports  for  this  unbarred. 
Quiet,  and  count  our  laden  prey 

The  convoy  and  her  guard ! 


On  shoal  with  scarce  a  foot  below, 

Where  rock  and  islet  throng, 
Hidden  and  hushed  we  watch  them  throw 

Their  anxious  lights  along. 
Not  here,  not  here  your  danger  lies — 

(Stare  hard,  O  hooded  eyne  !) 
Save  where  the  dazed  rock-pigeons  rise 

The  lit  cliffs  give  no  sign. 


Therefore — to  break  the  rest  ye  seek, 
The  Narrow  Seas  to  clear — 

Hark  to  the  syren's  whimpering  shriek- 
The  driven  death  is  here ! 


THE  DESTROYERS  13 

Look  to  your  van  a  league  away, — 

What  midnight  terror  stays 
The  bulk  that  checks  against  the  spray 

Her  crackling  tops  ablaze  ? 


Hit,  and  hard  hit !    The  blow  went  home, 

The  muffled,  knocking  stroke — 
The  steam  that  overruns  the  foam — 

The  foam  that  thins  to  smoke — 
The  smoke  that  clokes  the  deep  aboil — 

The  deep  that  chokes  her  throes 
Till,  streaked  with  ash  and  sleeked  with  oil, 

The  lukewarm  whirlpools  close  ! 


A  shadow  down  the  sickened  wave 

Long  since  her  slayer  fled : 
But  hear  their  chattering  quick-fires  rave 

Astern,  abeam,  ahead ! 
Panic  that  shells  the  drifting  spar — 

Loud  waste  with  none  to  check — 
Mad  fear  that  rakes  a  scornful  star 

Or  sweeps  a  consort's  deck  I 


14  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Now,  while  their  silly  smoke  hangs  thick, 

Now  ere  their  wits  they  find, 
Lay  in  and  lance  them  to  the  quick — 

Our  gallied  whales  are  blind  I 
Good  luck  to  those  that  see  the  end, 

Good-bye  to  those  that  drown — 
For  each  his  chance  as  chance  shall  send— 

And  God  for  all !     Shut  down  ! 

The  strength  of  twice  three  thousand  horse 

That  serve  the  one  command; 
The  hand  that  heaves  the  headlong  force, 

The  hate  that  hacks  the  hand: 
The  doom-bolt  in  the  darkness  freed, 

Tlie  mine  that  splits  the  main; 
The  white-hot  wake,  the  'wildering  speed — 

The  Choosers  of  the  Slain  ! 


WHITE  HORSES 

Where  run  your  colts  at  pasture  ? 

Where  hide  your  mares  to  breed  ? 
'Mid  bergs  about  the  Ice-cap 

Or  wove  Sargasso  weed; 
By  chartless  reef  and  channel, 

Or  crafty  coastwise  bars, 
But  most  the  ocean-meadows 

All  purple  to  the  stars ! 


Who  holds  the  rein  upon  you  ? 

The  latest  gale  let  free. 
What  meat  is  in  your  mangers  ? 

The  glut  of  all  the  sea. 
'Twixt  tide  and  tide's  returning 

Great  store  of  newly  dead, — 
The  bones  of  those  that  faced  us, 

And  the  hearts  of  those  that  fied. 
IS 


1 6  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Afar,  off-shore  and  single, 

Some  stallion,  rearing  swift, 
Neighs  hungry  for  new  fodder, 

And  calls  us  to  the  drift. 
Then  down  the  cloven  ridges — 

A  million  hooves  unshod — 
Break  forth  the  mad  White  Horses 

To  seek  their  meat  from  God  ! 


Girth-deep  in  hissing  water 

Our  furious  vanguard  strains — 
Through  mist  of  mighty  tramplings 

Roll  up  the  fore-blown  manes — 
A  hundred  leagues  to  leeward, 

Ere  yet  the  deep  is  stirred. 
The  groaning  rollers  carry 

The  coming  of  the  herd ! 


Whose  hand  may  grip  your  nostrils — 
Your  forelock  who  may  hold  f 

E'en  they  that  use  the  broads  with  us 
The  riders  bred  and  bold, 


WHITE  HORSES  17 

That  spy  upon  our  matings, 

That  rope  us  where  we  run — 
They  know  the  strong  White  Horses 

From  father  unto  son. 


We  breathe  about  their  cradles, 

We  race  their  babes  ashore, 
We  snuff  against  their  thresholds, 

We  nuzzle  at  their  door; 
By  day  with  stamping  squadrons, 

By  night  in  whinnying  droves, 
Creep  up  the  wise  White  Horses, 

To  call  them  from  their  loves. 


And  come  they  for  your  calling  ? 

No  wit  of  man  may  save. 
They  hear  the  loosed  White  Horses 

Above  their  father's  grave; 
And,  kin  of  those  we  crippled. 

And,  sons  of  those  we  slew. 
Spur  down  the  wild  white  riders 

To  school  the  herds  anew. 


xS  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

What  service  have  ye  paid  them. 

Oh  jealous  steeds  and  strong  f 
Save  we  that  throw  their  weaklings, 

Is  none  dare  work  them  wrong; 
While  thick  around  the  homestead 

Our  snow-backed  leaders  graze — 
A  guard  behind  their  plunder, 

And  a  veil  before  their  ways. 


With  march  and  countermarchings- 

With  weight  of  wheeling  hosts — 
Stray  mob  or  bands  embattled — 

We  ring  the  chosen  coasts : 
And,  careless  of  our  clamour 

That  bids  the  stranger  fly, 
At  peace  within  our  pickets 

The  wild  white  riders  lie. 


Trust  ye  the  curdled  hollows — 
Trust  ye  the  neighing  wind — 

Trust  ye  the  moaning  groundswell — 
Qur  herds  are  close  behind ! 


WHITE  HORSES  19 

To  bray  your  foeman's  armies — 

To  chill  and  snap  his  sword — 
Trust  ye  the  wild  White  Horses, 

The  Horses  of  the  Lord ! 


THE  SECOND  VOYAGE 

We've  sent  our  little  Cupids  all  ashore — 
They  were  frightened,  they  were  tired,  they 
were  cold; 
Our  sails  of  silk  and  purple  go  to  store, 

And  we've  cut  away  our  mast  of  beaten  gold 
(Foul  weather !) 
Oh   'tis  hemp  and  singing  pine  for  to  stand 
against  the  brine, 
But  Love  he  is  the  master  as  of  old  I 

The  sea  has  shorn  our  galleries  away, 

The  salt  has  soiled  our  gilding  past  remede; 
Our  paint  is  flaked  and  blistered  by  the  spray, 
Our  sides  are  half  a  fathom  furred  in  weed 
(Foul  weather !) 
And  the  doves  of  Venus  fled  and  the  petrels  came 
instead, 
But  Love  he  was  our  master  at  our  need  I 
20 


THE  SECOND  VOYAGE  21 

'Was  Youth  would  keep  no  vigil  at  the  bow, 

'Was  Pleasure  at  the  helm  too  drunk  to  steer — 
We've  shipped  three  able  quartermasters  now, 
Men  call  them  Custom,  Reverence,  and  Fear 
(Foul  weather !) 
They  are  old  and  scarred  and  plain,  but  we'll  run 
no  risk  again 
From  any  Port  o'  Paphos  mutineer ! 

We  seek  no  more  the  tempest  for  delight, 

We   skirt   no   more   the   indraught   and   the 
shoal — 
We  ask  no  more  of  any  day  or  night 
Than  to  come  with  least  adventure  to  our  goal 
(Foul  weather !) 
What  we  find  we  needs  must  brook,  but  we  do 
not  go  to  look, 
Nor  tempt  the  Lord  our  God  that  saved  us 
whole ! 

Yet,  caring  so,  not  overly  we  care 

To  brace  and  trim  for  every  foolish  blast, 

If  the  squall  be  pleased  to  sweep  us  unaware, 
He  may  bellow  off  to  leeward  like  the  last 
(Foul  weather !) 


2  2  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

We  will  blame  it  on  the  deep  (for  the  watch  must 
have  their  sleep), 
And  Love  can  come  and  wake  us  when  'tis 
past. 

Oh  launch  them  down  with  music  from  the 
beach, 
Oh  warp  them  out  with  garlands  from  the 
quays — 
Most  resolute — a  damsel  unto  each — 

New  prows  that  seek  the  old  Hesperides ! 
(Foul  weather ! ) 
Though  we  know  the  voyage  is  vain,  yet  we  see 
our  path  again 
In  the  saffroned  bridesails  scenting  all  the 
seas! 

(Foul  weather ! ) 


THE  DYKES 

We  have  no  heart  for  the  fishing,  we  have  no 

hand  for  the  oar — 
All  that  our  fathers  taught  us  of  old  pleases  us 

now  no  more ; 
All  that  our  own  hearts  bid  us  believe  we  doubt 

where  we  do  not  deny — 
There  is  no  proof  in  the  bread  we  eat  or  rest  in 

the  toil  we  ply. 


Look  you,  our  foreshore  stretches  far  through 

sea-gate,  dyke,  and  groin — 
Made  land  all,  that   our  fathers  made,  where 

the  flats  and  the  fairway  join. 
They  forced  the  sea  a  sea-league  back.     They 

died,  and  their  work  stood  fast. 
We  were  bom  to  peace  in  the  lee  of  the  dykes, 

but  the  time  of  our  peace  is  past. 
as 


H  "fSE   FIVE  NATIONS 

Far  off,  the  full  tide  clambers  and  slips,  mouth- 
ing and  testing  all, 

Nipping  the  flanks  of  the  water-gates,  baying 
along  the  wall; 

Turning  the  shingle,  returning  the  shingle, 
changing  the   set    of   the   sand     .     .     . 

We  are  too  far  from  the  beach,  men  say,  to  know 
how  the  outworks  stand. 


So  we  come  down,  uneasy,  to  look,  uneasily 

pacing  the  beach. 
These  are  the  dykes  our  fathers  made:  we  have 

never  known  a  breach. 
Time  and  again  has  the  gale  blown  by  and  we 

were  not  afraid; 
Now  we  come  only  to  look  at  the  dykes — at  the 

dykes  our  fathers  made. 


O'er  the  marsh  where  the  homesteads  cower 
apart,  the  harried  sunlight  flies. 

Shifts  and  considers,  wanes  and  recovers,  scat- 
ters and  sickens  and  dies — 


THE  DYKES  25 

An  evil    ember  bedded  in  ash — a  spark  blown 

west  by  the  wind     .     .     . 
We  are  surrendered  to  night  and  the  sea — ^the 

gale  and  the  tide  behind ! 


At  the  bridge  of  the  lower  saltings  the  cattle 

gather  and  blare, 
Roused  by  the  feet  of  running  men,  dazed  by 

the  lantern  glare. 
Unbar  and  let  them  away  for  their  lives — the 

levels  drown  as  they  stand, 
Where  the  flood-wash  forces  the  sluices  aback 

and  the  ditches  deliver  inland. 

Ninefold  deep  to  the  top  of  the  dykes  the  gallop- 
ing breakers  stride, 

And  their  overcarried  spray  is  a  sea — a  sea  on 
the  landward  side. 

Coming,  like  stallions  they  paw  with  their 
hooves,  going  they  snatch  with  their  teeth, 

Till  the  bents  and  the  furze  and  the  sand  are 
dragged  out,  and  the  old-time  wattles 
beneath ! 


26  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Bid  men  gather  fuel  for  fire,  the  tar  and  the 

oil  and  the  tow — 
Flame  we  shall  need,  not  smoke,  in  the  dark  if 

the  riddled  seabanks  go. 
Bid  the  ringers  watch  in  the  tower  (who  knows 

what  the  dawn  shall  prove?) 
Each  with  his  rope  between  his  feet  and  the 

trembling  bells  above. 

Now  we   can   only  wait  till  the   day,  wait  and 

apportion  our  shame ! 
These  are  the  dykes  our  fathers  left,  but  we 

would  not  look  to  the  same. 
Time  and  again  were  we  warned  of  the  dykes, 

time  and  again  we  delayed: 
Now,  it  may  fall,  we  have   slain  our  sons   as 

our  fathers  we  have  betrayed. 


Walking  along  the  wreck  of  the  dykes,  watching 

the  work  of  the  seas, 
These  were  the  dykes  our  fathers  made  to  our 

great  profit  and  ease; 


THE  DYKES  27 

But  the  peace  is  gone  and  the  profit  is  gone,  and 
the  old  sure  day  withdrawn     .     .     . 

That  our  own  houses  show  as  strange  when  we 
come  back  in  the  dawn  1 


THE  SONG  OF  DIEGO  VALDEZ 

The  God  of  Fair  Beginnings 

Hath  prospered  here  my  hand — 
The  cargoes  of  my  lading, 

And  the  keels  of  my  command. 
For  out  of  many  ventures 

That  sailed  with  hope  as  high, 
My  own  have  made  the  better  trade, 

And  Admiral  am  I ! 


To  me  my  King's  much  honour. 

To  me  my  people's  love — 
To  me  the  pride  of  Princes 

And  power  all  pride  above ; 
To  me  the  shouting  cities. 

To  me  the  mob's  refrain: — 
"Who  knows  not  noble  Valdez, 

Hath  never  heard  of  Spain. " 
aS 


THE  SONG  OF  DIEGO  VALDEZ  29 

But  I  remember  comrades — 

Old  playmates  on  new  seas— 
Whenas  we  traded  orpiment 

Among  the  savages — 
A  thousand  leagues  to  south'ard 

And  thirty  years  removed — 
They  knew  not  noble  Valdez, 

But  me  they  knew  and  loved. 


Then  they  that  found  good  liquor, 

They  drank  it  not  alone. 
And  they  that  found  fair  plunder. 

They  told  us  every  one, 
About   our  chosen  islands 

Or  secret  shoals  between, 
When,  walty  from  far  voyage, 

We  gathered  to  careen. 


There  burned  our  breaming-fagots 
All  pale  along  the  shore : 

There  rose  our  worn  pavilions — 
A  sail  above  an  oar : 


3©  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

As  flashed  each  yearning  anchor 
Through  mellow  seas  afire, 

So  swift  our  careless  captains 
Rowed  each  to  his  desire  ! 


Where  lay  our  loosened  harness  ? 

Where  turned  our  naked  feet  ? 
Whose  tavern  'mid  the  palm-trees? 

What  quenchings  of  what  heat? 
Oh  fountain  in  the  desert ! 

Oh  cistern  in  the  waste  ! 
Oh  bread  we  ate  in  secret ! 

Oh  cup  we  spilled  in  haste ! 


The  youth  new-taught  of  longing, 

The  widow  curbed  and  wan — 
The  goodwife  proud  at  season. 

And  the  maid  aware  of  man; 
All  souls  unslaked,  consuming, 

Defrauded  in  delays, 
Desire  not  more  than  quittance 

Than  I  those  forfeit  days  ! 


THE  SONG  OF  DIEGO  VALDEZ  31 

I  dreamed  to  wait  my  pleasure 

Unchanged  my  spring  would  bide : 
Wherefore,  to  wait  my  pleasure, 

I  put  my  spring  aside 
Till,  first  in  face  of  Fortune, 

And  last  in  mazed  disdain, 
I  made  Diego  Valdez 

High  Admiral  of  Spain. 


Then  walked  no  wind  'neath  Heaven 

Nor  surge  that  did  not  aid — 
I  dared  extreme  occasion, 

Nor  ever  one  betrayed. 
They  wrought  a  deeper  treason — 

(Led  seas  that  served  my  needs !) 
They  sold  Diego  Valdez 

To  bondage  of  great  deeds. 


The  tempest  flung  me  seaward. 
And  pinned  and  bade  me  hold 

The  course  I  might  not  alter — 
And  men  esteemed  me  bold ! 


32  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

The  calms  embayed  my  quarry, 
The  fog- wreath  sealed  his  eyes ; 

The  dawn -wind  brought  my  topsails- 
And  men  esteemed  me  wise  ! 


Yet  'spite  my  tyrant  triumphs 

Bewildered,  dispossessed — 
My  dream  held  I  before  me — 

My  vision  of  my  rest; 
But,  crowned  by  Fleet  and  People, 

And  bound  by  King  and  Pope — 
Stands  here  Diego  Valdez 

To  rob  me  of  my  hope ! 


No  prayer  of  mine  shall  move  him. 

No  word  of  his  set  free 
The  Lord  of  Sixty  Pennants 

And  the  Steward  of  the  Sea. 
His  will  can  loose  ten  thousand 

To  seek  their  loves  again — 
But  not  Diego  Valdez, 

High  Admiral  of  Spain. 


THE  SONG  OF  DIEGO  VALDEZ  33 

There  walks  no  wind  'neath  Heaven 

Nor  wave  that  shall  restore 
The  old  careening  riot 

And  the  clamorous,  crowded  shore — 
The  fountain  in  the  desert, 

The  cistern  in  the  waste, 
The  bread  we  ate  in  secret, 

The  cup  we  spilled  in  haste  ! 

Now  call  I  to  my  Captains — 

For  council  fly  the  sign, 
Now  leap  their  zealous  galleys 

Twelve-oared  across  the  brine. 
To  me  the  straiter  prison. 

To  me  the  heavier  chain — 
To  me  Diego  Valdez, 

High  Admiral  of  Spain ! 


THE  BROKEN  MEN 

For  things  we  never  mention, 

For  Art  misunderstood — 
For  excellent  intention 

That  did  not  turn  to  good; 
From  ancient  tales'  renewing, 

From  clouds  we  would  not  clear- 
Beyond  the  Law's  pursuing 

We  fled,  and  settled  here. 


We  took  no  tearful  leaving, 

We  bade  no  long  good-byes ; 
Men  talked  of  crime  and  thieving. 

Men  wrote  of  fraud  and  lies. 
To  save  our  injured  feelings 

'Twas  time  and  time  to  go — 
Behind  was  dock  and  Dartmoor, 

Ahead  lay  Callao ! 
34 


THE  BROKEN  MEN  35 

The  widow  and  the  orphan 

That  pray  for  ten  per  cent . , 
They  clapped  their  trailers  on  us 

To  spy  the  road  we  went. 
They  watched  the  foreign  sailings 

(They  scan  the  shipping  still), 
And  that's  your  Christian  people 

Returning  good  for  ill ! 


God  bless  the  thoughful  islands 

Where  never  warrants  come ! 
God  bless  the  just  Republics 

That  give  a  man  a  home, 
That  ask  no  foolish  questions, 

But  set  him  on  his  feet ; 
And  save  his  wife  and  daughters 

From  the  workhouse  and  the  street ! 


On  church  and  square  and  market 
The  noonday  silence  falls ; 

You'll  hear  the  drowsy  mutter 
Of  the  fountain  in  our  halls. 


36  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Asleep  amid  the  yuccas 
The  city  takes  her  ease — 

Till  twilight  brings  the  land-wind 
To  our  clicking  jalousies. 


Day  long  the  diamond  weather, 

The  high,  unaltered  blue — 
The  smell  of  goats  and  incense 

And  the  mule-bells  tinkling  through. 
Day  long  the  warder  ocean 

That  keeps  us  from  our  kin, 
And  once  a  month  our  levee 

When  the  English  mail  comes  in. 


You'll  find  us  up  and  waiting 

To  treat  you  at  the  bar; 
You'll  find  us  less  exclusive 

Than  the  average  English  are. 
We'll  meet  you  with  our  carriage. 

Too  glad  to  show  you  round, 
But — we  do  not  lunch  on  steamers, 

For  they  are  English  ground. 


THE  BROKEN  MEN  37 

We  sail  o'  nights  to  England 

And  join  our  smiling  Boards; 
Our  wives  go  in  with  Viscounts 

And  our  daughters  dance  with  Lords. 
But  behind  our  princely  doings, 

And  behind  each  coup  we  make, 
We  feel  there's  Something  Waiting, 

And — we  meet  It  when  we  wake. 


Ah  God  !     One  sniff  of  England — 

To  greet  our  flesh  and  blood — 
To  hear  the  hansoms  slurring 

Once  more  through  London  mud ! 
Our  towns  of  wasted  honour — 

Our  streets  of  lost  delight ! 
How  stands  the  old  Lord  Warden? 

Are  Dover's  cliffs  still  white  ? 


THE  FEET  OF  THE  YOUNG  MEN  ^ 

Now  the  Four-way  Lodge  is  opened,  now  the 
Hunting  Winds  are  loose — 
Now  the  Smokes  of  Spring    go  up  to  clear 
the  brain; 
Now  the  Young  Men's  hearts  are  troubled  for 
the  whisper  of  the  Trues, 
Now  the  Red  Gods  make  their  medicine  again  ! 
Who  hath  seen  the  beaver  busied?     Who  hath 
watched  the  black-tail  mating  ? 
Who  hath  lain  alone  to  hear  the  wild-goose 
cry? 
Who  hath  worked  the  chosen  water  where  the 
ouananiche  is  waiting, 
Or  the  sea-trout's  jumping-crazy  for  the  fly  ? 

He  must  go — go — go  away  from  here ! 

On  the  other  side  the  world  he's  overdue. 
'Send  your   road  is  clear   before  you  when 
the  old  Spring-fret  comes  o'er  you 

And  the  Red  Gods  call  for  you  ! 

Cvsj-Aini,  US7,  bj  Kudjard  Ki])Uii( 

38 


THE  FEET  OF  THE  YOUNG  MEN         39 

So  for  one  the  wet  sail  arching  through  the  rain- 
bow round  the  bow, 
And  for  one  the  creak  of  snow-shoes  on  the 
crust ; 
And  for  one  the  lakeside  lilies  where  the  bull- 
moose  waits  the  cow, 
And  for  one  the  mule-train  coughing  in  the 
dust. 
Who  hath  smelt  wood-smoke  at  twilight  ?     Who 
hath  heard  the  birch-log  burning? 
Who  is  quick  to  read  the  noises  of  the  night  ? 
Let  him  follow  with  the  others,  for  the  Yoimg 
Men's  feet  are  turning 
To  the  camps  of  proved  desire  and  known 
delight ! 
Let  him  go — go,  etc. 

I 

Do  you  know. the  blackened  timber — do  you 
know  that  racing  stream 
With  the  raw,  right-angled  log-jam  at  the  end; 
And  the  bar  of  sun-warmed  shingle  where  a  man 
may  bask  and  dream 
To  the  click  of  shod  canoe-poles  round  the 
bend? 


46  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

It  is  there  that  we  are  going  with  our  rods  and 
reels  and  traces, 
To  a  silent,smoky  Indian  that  we  know — 
To  a  couch  of  new-pulled  hemlock  with  the  star- 
light on  our  faces, 
For  the  Red  Gods  call  us  out  and  we  must  go  I 

Theymust  go — ^go,  etc. 

II 

Do  you  know  the  shallow  Baltic  where  the  seas 
are  steep  and  short, 
Where  the  bluff,  lee-boarded  fishing-luggers 
ride? 
Do  you  know  the  joy  of  threshing  leagues  to 
leeward  of  your  port 
On  a  coast  you've  lost  the  chart  of  overside  ? 
It  is  there  that  I  am  going,  with  an  extra  hand 
to  bale  her — 
Just  one  able  'long-shore  loafer  that  I  know. 
He  can  take  his  chance  of  drowning,  while  I  sail 
and  sail  and  sail  her, 
For  the  Red  Gods  call  me  out  and  I  must  go ! 

He  must  go — go,  etc. 


THE  FEET  OP  THE  YOUNG  MEN    4! 

Ill 

Do  you  know  the  pile-built  village  where  the 
sago-dealers  trade — 
Do  you  know  the  reek  of  fish  and  wet  bamboo  ? 
Do  you  know  the   steaming   stillness    of    the 
orchid-scented  glade 
When  the  blazoned,  bird-winged  butterflies 
flap  through  ? 
It  is  there  that  I  am  going  with  my  camphor, 
net,  and  boxes, 
To  a  gentle,  yellow  pirate  that  I  know — 
To  my  little  wailing  lemurs,  to  my  palms  and 
flying-foxes. 
For  the  Red  Gods  call  me  out  and  I  must  go ! 
He  must  go — go,  etc. 

IV 
Do  you  know  the  world's  white  roof-tree — do 
you  know  that  windy  rift 
Where  the  baffling  mountain-eddies  chop  and 
change  ? 
Do  you  know  the  long  day's  patience,  belly- 
down  on  frozen  drift. 
While  the  head  of  heads  is  feeding  out  of 
range  ? 


42  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

It  is  there  that  I  am  going,  where  the  boulders 

and  the  snow  lie, 

With  a  trusty,  nimble  tracker  that  I  know. 

I  have  sworn  an  oath,  to  keep  it  on  the  Horns  of 

Ovis  Poli, 

And  the  Red  Gods  call  me  out  and  I  must  go ! 

He  must  go — go,  etc. 


Now  the  Four-way  Lodge  is  opened — now  the 
Smokes  of  Council  rise — 
Pleasant  smokes,  ere  yet  'twixt  trail  and  trail 
they  choose — 
Now  the  girths  and  ropes  are  tested:  now  they 
pack  their  last  supplies : 
Now  our  Young  Men  go  to  dance  before  the 
Trues! 
Who  shall  meet  them  at  those  altars — who  shall 
light  them  to  that  shrine  ? 
Velvet -footed,  who  shall  guide  them  to  their 
goal  ? 
Unto  each  the  voice  and  vision:  unto  each  his 
spoor  and  sign — 


THE  FEET  OP  THE  YOUNG  ,MEN         43 

Lonely  mountain  in  the  Northland,  misty  sweat- 
bath  'neath  the  Line — 
And  to  each  a  man  that  knows  his  naked 
soul ! 


White  or  yellow,  black  or  copper,  he  is  waiting, 

as  a  lover, 
Smoke  of  funnel,  dust  of  hooves,  or  beat  of 

train — 
Where  the  high  grass  hides  the  horseman  or  the 

glaring  flats  discover — 
Where  the  steamer  hails  the  landing,   or  the 

surf-boat  brings  the  rover — 
Where  the  rails  run  out  in  sand-drift     .     ,     . 

Quick!   ah,  heave  the  camp-kit  over! 
For  the  Red  Gods  make  their  medicine  again  ! 

And  we  go — go — go  away  from  here  ! 

On  the  other  side  the  world  we're  overdue  ! 

'Send  the  road  is  clear  before  you  when  the 
old  Spring-fret  comes  o'er  you, 
And  the  Red  Gods  call  for  you  ! 


THE  TRUCE  OF  THE  BEAR 

Yearly,  with  tent  and  rifle,  our  careless  white 

men  go 
By  the  pass  called  Muttianee,  to  shoot  in  the 

vale  below. 
Yearly  by  Muttianee  he  follows  our  white  men 

in — 
Matun,   the  old  blind  beggar,  bandaged  from 

brow  to  chin. 

Eyeless,  noseless,  and  lipless — toothless,  broken 

of  speech. 
Seeking  a  dole  at  the  doorway  he  mumbles  his 

tale  to  each; 
Over  and  over  the  story,  ending  as  he  began: 
"Make  ye  no  truce  with  Adam-zad — the  Bear 

that  walks  like  a  man  ! 

"There  was  a  flint  in  my  musket — pricked  and 

primed  was  the  pan. 
When  I  went  hunting  Adam-zad — the  Bear  that 

stands  like  a  man. 

44 


THE  TRUCE  OF  THE  BEAR  45 

I  looked  my  last  on  the  timber,  I  looked  my  last 

on  the  snow, 
When  I  went  hunting  Adam-zad  fifty  summers 

ago! 

"  I  knew  his  times  and  his  seasons,  as  he  knew 

mine,  that  fed 
By  night  in  the  ripened  maizefield  and  robbed 

my  house  of  bread ; 
I  knew  his  strength  and  cunning,  as  he  knew 

mine,  that  crept 
At  dawn  to  the  crowded  goat-pens  and  plundered 

while  I  slept. 

'*  Up  from  his  stony  playground — down  from 

his  well-digged  lair — 
Out  on  the  naked  ridges  ran  Adam-zad  the  Bear; 
Groaning,   grunting,   and  roaring,   heavy  with 

stolen    meals. 
Two  long  marches  to  northward,  and  I  was  at 

his  heels ! 

"  Two  full  marches  to  northward,  at  the  fall  of 

the  second  night, 
I  came  on  mine  enemy  Adam-zad  all  panting 

from  his  flight. 


46  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

There  was  a  charge  in  the  musket — pricked  and 

primed  was  the  pan — 
My   finger    crooked   on   the   trigger — when   he 

reared  up  Hke  a  man. 

"  Horrible,  hairy,  human,  with  paws  like  hands 

in  prayer, 
Making    his    supplication    rose   Adam-zad   the 

Bear ! 
I    looked    at  the   swaying    shoulders,   at    the 

paunch's  swag  and  swing, 
And  my  heart  was  touched  with  pity  for  the 

monstrous,  pleading  thing. 

"  Touched  with  pity  and  wonder,  I  did  not  fire 

then     .     .     . 
I  have  looked  no  more  on  women — I  have  walked 

no  more  with  men. 
Nearer  he  tottered  and  nearer,  with  paws  like 

hands  that  pray — 
From   brow   to    jaw  that    steel-shod    paw,   it 

ripped  my  face  away ! 

"  Sudden,  silent,  and  savage,  searing  as  flame 

the  blow — 
Faceless  I  fell  before  his  feet,  fifty  summers  ago. 


THE  TRUCE  OF  THE  BEAR  47 

I  heard  him  grunt  and  chuckle — I  heard  him 

pass  to  his  den, 
He  left  me  blind  to  the  darkened  years  and  the 

little  mercy  of  men. 

"  Now  ye  go  down  in  the  morning  with  guns  of 

the  newer  style, 
That  load  (I  have  felt)  in  the  middle  and  range 

(I  have  heard)  a  mile  ? 
Luck  to  the  white  man's  rifle,  that  shoots  so  fast 

and  true, 
But — pay,  and  I  lift  my  bandage  and  show  what 

the  Bear  can  do  !" 

(Flesh  like  slag  in  the  furnace,  knobbed  and 

withered  and  grey — 
Matun,  the   old   blind   beggar,   he   gives  good 

worth  for  his  pay.) 
"Rouse  him  at  noon  in  the  bushes,  follow  and 

press  him  hard — 
Not  for  his  ragings  and  roarings  flinch  ye  from 

Adam-zad. 
"  But  (pay,  and  I  put  back  the  bandage)  this  is 

the  time  to  fear. 
When  he  stands  up  like  a  tired  man,  tottering 

near  and  near; 


48  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

When  he  stands  up  as  pleading,  in  wavering, 

man-brute  guise, 
When  he  veils  the  hate   and  cunning  of  the 

little,  swinish  eyes; 

"  When  he  shows  as  seeking  quarter,  with  paws 

like  hands  in  prayer, 
That  is  the  time  of  peril — the  time  of  the  Truce 

of  the  Bear!" 

Eyeless,  noseless,  and  lipless,  asking  a  dole  at 

the  door, 
Matun,  the  old  blind  beggar,  he  tells  it  o'er  and 

o'er; 
Fumbling  and  feeling  the  rifles,  warming  his 

hands  at  the  flame. 
Hearing  our  careless   white   men  talk  of  the 

morrow's  game; 

Over  and  over  the  story,  ending  as  he  began : — 
"  TJiere  is  no  truce  with  Adam-zad,  the  Bear  that 
looks  like  a  man  !" 


THE  OLD  MEN 

This  is  our  lot  if  we  live  so  long  and  labour  unto 

the  end — 
That  we  outlive  the  impatient  years  and  the  much 

too  patient  friend  : 
And  because  we  know  we  have  breath  in  our  mouth 

and  think  we  have  thought  in  our  head. 
We  shall  assume  that  we  are  alive,  whereas  we  are 

really  dead. 

We  shall  not  acknowledge  that  old  stars  fade 

or  alien  planets  arise 
(That  the  sere  bush  buds  or  the  desert  blooms 

or  the  ancient  well-head  dries), 
Or    any    new    compass    wherewith    new    men 

adventure  'neath  new  skies. 

We  shall  lift  up  the  ropes  that  constrained  our 
youth  to  bind  on  our  children's  hands ; 
49 


5©  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

We  shall  call  to  the  water  below  the  bridges  to 

return  and  replenish  our  lands ; 
We   shall    harness   horses    (Death's    own   pale 

horses)  and  scholarly  plough  the  sands. 

We  shall  lie  down  in  the  eye  of  the  sun  for  lack 

of  a  light  on  our  way — 
We  shall  rise  up  when  the  day  is  done  and 

chirrup,  "  Behold,  it  is  day ! " 
We  shall  abide  till  the  battle  is  won  ere  we 

amble  into  the  fray. 

We  shall  peck  out  and  discuss  and  dissect,  and 

evert  and  extrude  to  our  mind, 
The  flaccid  tissues  of  long-dead  issues  offensive 

to  God  and  mankind — 
(Precisely  like  vultures  over  an  ox  that  the 

Army  has  left  behind). 

We  shall  make  walk  preposterous  ghoots  of  the 

glories  we  once  created — 
(Immodestly  smearing  from  muddled  palettes 

amazing  pigments  mismated) 
And  our  friends  will  weep  when  we  ask  them 

with  boasts  if  our  natural  force  be  abated. 


THE  OLD  MEN  51 

The  Lamp  of  our  Youth  will  be  utterly  out: 
but  we  shall  subsist  on  the  smell  of  it, 

And  whatever  we  do,  we  shall  fold  our  hands 
and  suck  our  gums  and  think  well  of  it. 

Yes,  we  shall  be  perfectly  pleased  with  our  work, 
and  that  is  the  perfectest  Hell  of  it ! 

This  is  our  lot  if  we  live  so  long  and  listen  to 

those  who  love  us — 
That  we  are  shunned  by  the  people  about  and 

shamed  by  the  Powers  above  us. 
Wherefore  be  free  of  your  harness  betimes;  but 

being  free  be  assured. 
That  he  who  hath  not  endured  to  the  death,  from 

his  birth  he  hath  never  endured ! 


THE  EXPLORER 

"There's  no  sense  in  going  further — it's   the 

edge  of  cultivation, " 
So    they    said,    and  I  believed  it — broke  my 

land  and  sowed  my  crop — 
Built  my  barns  and  strung  my  fences  in  the 

little  border  station 
Tucked  away  below  the  foothills  where  the  trails 

run  out  and  stop. 


Till  a  voice,  as  bad  as  Conscience,  rang  inter- 
minable changes 

On    one    everlasting   Whisper   day    and    night 
repeated — so : 

"Something  hidden.     Go  and  find  it.     Go  and 
look  behind  the  Ranges — 

"Something  lost  behind  the  Ranges.     Lost  and 
waiting  for  you.     Go  ! " 
52 


THE  EXPLORER  $3 

So  1  went,  worn  out  of  patience;   'never  told 

my  nearest  neighbours — 
Stole   away   with   pack   and   ponies — ^left    'em 

drinking  in  the  town; 
And  the  faith  that  moveth  mountains  didn't 

seem  to  help  my  labours 
As  I  faced  the  sheer  main-ranges,  whipping  up 

and  leading  down. 

March  by  march  I  puzzled  through  'em,  turning 

flanks  and  dodging  shoulders, 
Hurried  on  in  hope  of  water,  headed  back  for 

lack  of  grass; 
Till  I  camped  above  the  tree-line — drifted  snow 

and  naked  boulders — 
Felt   free    air  astir   to     windward — knew     I'd 

stumbled  on  the  Pass. 

'Thought  to  name  it  for  the  finder:  but  that 

night  the  Norther  found  me — 
Froze  and  killed  the  plains-bred  ponies:  so  I 

called  the  camp  Despair 


54  tH£  five  nations 

(It's  the  Railway  Gap  to-day,  though).  Then 
my  Whisper  waked  to  hound  me : — 

"Something  lost  behind  the  Ranges.  Over 
yonder.     Go  you  there  !  * ' 


Then  I  knew,  the  while  I  doubted — knew  His 

Hand  was  certain  o'er  me. 
Still — it  might  be  self-delusion — scores  of  better 

men  had  died — 
I  could  reach  the  township  living,  but     .     .     . 

He  knows  what  terrors  tore  me     .     .     . 
But  I  didn't     ...     but  I  didn't.     I  went 

down  the  other  side. 


Till  the  snow  ran  out  in  flowers,  and  the  flowers 
turned  to  aloes, 

And  the  aloes  sprung  to  thickets  and  a  brim- 
ming stream  ran  by ; 

But  the  thickets  dwined  to  thorn-scrub,  and  the 
water  drained  to  shallows — 

And  I  dropped  again  on  desert,  blasted  earth, 
and  blasting  sky.     .     .     . 


THE  EXPLORER  $$ 

I  remember  lighting  fires ;  I  remember  sitting  by 

them ; 
I  remember  seeing  faces,  hearing  voices  through 

the  smoke; 
I  remember  they  were  fancy — for  I  threw  a 

stone  to  try  'em. 
"Something  lost  behind  the  Ranges,"  was  the 

only  word  they  spoke. 


I  remember  going  crazy.     I  remember  that  I 

knew  it 
When  I  heard  myself  hallooing  to  the  funny 

folk  I  saw. 
Very  full  of  dreams  that  desert:  but  my  two 

legs  took  me  through  it     .     .     . 
And  I  used  to  watch  'em  moving  with  the  toes 

all  black  and  raw. 


But  at  last  the  country  altered — White  man's 

country  past  disputing — 
Rolling  grass  and  open  timber,  with  a  hint  of 

hills  behind — 


$6  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

There  I  found  me  food  and  water,  and  I  lay  a 

week  recruiting, 
Got    my    strength    and    lost    my    nightmares. 

Then  I  entered  on  my  find. 


Thence  I  ran  my  first  rough  survey — chose  my 

trees  and  blazed  and  ringed  'em — 
Week  by  week  I  pried  and  sampled — week  by 

week  my  findings  grew. 
Saul  he  went  to  look  for  donkeys,  and  by  God 

he  found  a  kingdom  ! 
But   by   God,  who   sent   His    Whisper,    I   had 

struck  the  worth  of  two  ! 


Up  along  the  hostile  mountains,  where  the  hair- 
poised  snow-slide  shivers — 

Down  and  through  the  big  fat  marshes  that  the 
virgin  ore-bed  stains, 

Till  I  heard  the  mile-wide  mutterings  of  un- 
imagined    rivers 

And  beyond  the  nameless  timber  saw  illimitable 
plains ! 


THE  EXPLORER  $•} 

'Plotted  sites  of  future  cities,  traced  the  easy- 
grades  between  'em; 

Watched  unharnessed  rapids  wasting  fifty 
thousand  head  an  hour ; 

Counted  leagues  of  water-frontage  through  the 
axe-ripe  woods  that  screen  'em — 

Saw  the  plant  to  feed  a  people — up  and  waiting 
for  the  power ! 


Well   I   know  who'll  take  the   credit — all  the 

clever  chaps  that  followed — 
Came,  a  dozen  men  together — never  knew  my 

desert  fears; 
Tracked  me  by  the  camps  I'd  quitted,  used  the 

water  holes  I'd  hollowed: 
They'll  go  back  and  do  the  talking.     They'll  be 

called  the  Pioneers ! 


They  will  find  my  sites  of  townships — not  the 

cities  that  I  set  there. 
They  will  rediscover  rivers — not  my  rivers  heard 

at  night. 


58  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

By  my  own  old  marks  and  bearings  they  will 

show  me  how  to  get  there, 
By  the  lonely  cairns  I  bvdlded  they  will  guide 

my  feet  aright. 


Have  I  named  one  single  river  ?  Have  I  claimed 
one  single  acre  ? 

Have  I  kept  one  single  nugget — (barring  sam- 
ples)?    No,  not  I. 

Because  my  price  was  paid  me  ten  times  over 
by  my  Maker. 

But  you  wouldn't  understand  it.  You  go  up 
and  occupy. 


Ores  you'll  find  there;  wood  and  cattle;  water- 
transit  sure  and  steady 

(That  should  keep  the  railway  rates  down),  coal 
and  iron  at  your  doors. 

God  took  care  to  hide  that  country  till  He  judged 
His  people  ready, 

Then  He  chose  me  for  His  Whisper,  and  I've 
found  it,  and  it's  yours ! 


THE  EXPLORER  59 

Yes,  your  "Never-never   country" — yes,  your 

"edge  of  cultivation" 
And  "no  sense  in  going  further" — till  I  crossed 

the  range  to  see. 
God    forgive    me!     No,  /  didn't.     It's    God's 

present  to  our  nation. 
Anybody  might  have  found  it  but — His  Whisper 

came  to  Me ! 


THE  WAGE-SLAVES 

Oh  glorious  are  the  guarded  heights 

Where  guardian  souls  abide — 
Self -exiled  from  our  gross  delights — 

Above,  beyond,  outside: 
An  ampler  arc  their  spirit  swings — 

Commands  a  juster  view — 
We  have  their  word  for  all  these  things, 

Nor  doubt  their  words  are  true. 

Yet  we  the  bondslaves  of  our  day, 

Whom  dirt  and  danger  press — 
Co-heirs  of  insolence,  delay, 

And  leagued  unfaithfulness — 
Such  is  our  need  must  seek  indeed 

And,  having  found,  engage 
The  men  who  merely  do  the  work 

For  which  they  draw  the  wage. 

From  forge  and  farm  and  mine  and  bench, 
Deck,  altar,  outpost  lone — 
60 


THE  WAGE-SLAVES  .  6l 

Mill,  school,  battalion,  counter,  trench, 
Rail,  senate,  sheepfold,  throne — 

Creation's  cry  goes  up  on  high 
From  age  to  cheated  age: 

"Send  us  the  men  who  do  the  work 
For  which  they  draw  the  wage. " 

Words  cannot  help  nor  wit  achieve, 

Nor  e'en  the  all-gifted  fool, 
Too  weak  to  enter,  bide,  or  leave 

The  lists  he  cannot  rule. 
Beneath  the  sun  we  count  on  none 

Our  evil  to  assuage. 
Except  the  men  that  do  the  work 

For  which  they  draw  the  wage. 

When  through  the  Gates  of  Stress  and  Strain 

Comes  forth  the  vast  Event — 
The  simple,  sheer,  sufficing,  sane 

Result  of  labour  spent — 
They  that  have  wrought  the  end  unthought 

Be  neither  saint  nor  sage. 
But  men  who  merely  did  the  work 

For  which  they  drew  the  wage 


6a  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Wherefore  to  these  the  Fates  shall  bend 

(And  all  old  idle  things — ) 
Wherefore  on  these  shall  Power  attend 

Beyond  the  grasp  of  kings : 
Each  in  his  place,  by  right,  not  grace, 

Shall  rule  his  heritage — 
The  men  who  simply  do  the  work 

For  which  they  draw  the  wage. 

Not  such  as  scorn  the  loitering  street, 

Or  waste  to  earn  its  praise, 
Their  noontide's  unretuming  heat 

About  their  morning  ways : 
But  such  as  dower  each  mortgaged  hour 

Alike  with  clean  courage — 
Even  the  men  who  do  the  work 

For  which  they  draw  the  wage — 
Men  like  to  Gods  that  do  the  work 

For  which  they  draw  the  wage — 
Begin — continue — close  the  work 

For  which  they  draw  the  wage ! 


THE  BURIAL 

C    J.    Rhodes,  buried   in  the  Matoppos, 
April  lo,  1902 

When  that  great  Kings  return  to  clay, 

Or  Emperors  in  their  pride, 
Grief  of  a  day  shall  fill  a  day, 

Because  its  creature  died. 
But  wc — we  reckon  not  with  those 

Whom  the  mere  Fates  ordain. 
This  Power  that  wrought  on  us  and  goes 

Back  to  the  Power  again. 


Dreamer  devout,  by  vision  led 
Beyond  our  guess  or  reach. 

The  travail  of  his  spirit  bred 
Cities  in  place  of  speech. 
63 


64  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

So   huge   the    all-mastering   thought   that 
drove — 

So  brief  the  term  allowed — 
Nations,  not  words,  he  linked  to  prove 

His  faith  before  the  crowd. 


It  is  his  will  that  he  look  forth 

Across  the  world  he  won — 
The  granite  of  the  ancient  North — 

Great  spaces  washed  with  sun. 
There  shall  he  patient  make  his  seat 

(As  when  the  Death  he  dared) , 
And  there  await  a  people's  feet 

In  the  paths  that  he  prepared. 

There,  till  the  vision  he  forsaw 

Splendid  and  whole  arise, 
And  unimagined  Empires  draw 

To  council  'neath  his  skies. 
The  immense  and  brooding  Spirit  still 

Shall  quicken  and  control. 
Living  he  was  the  land,  and  dead, 

His  soul  shall  be  her  soul ! 


GENERAL  JOUBERT 

(Died  March  27th,  1900) 

With  those  that  bred,  with  those  that  loosed 
the  strife, 
He  had  no  part  whose  hands  were  clear  of 
gain; 
But  subtle,  strong,  and  stubborn,  gave  his  life 
To  a  lost  cause,  and  knew  the  gift  was  vain. 

Later  shall  rise  a  people,  sane  and  great. 

Forged  in  strong  fires,  by  equal  war  made  one; 

Telling  old  battles  over  without  hate — 
Not  least  his  name  shall  pass  from  sire  to  son. 

He  may  not  meet  the  onsweep  of  our  van 
In  the  doomed  city  when  we  close  the  score. 

Yet  o'er  his  grave — his  grave  that  holds  a  man — 
Our  deep-tongued  guns  shall  answer  his  once 
more  ! 

Cepjilght,  ]9(X),.by  Radjlid  Kipling 

65 


THE   PALACE 

When  I  was  a  King  and  a  Mason — a  Master 

proven  and  skilled — 
I  cleared  me  ground  for  a  palace  such  as  a  King 

should  build. 
I  decreed  and  dug  down  to  my  levels.    Presently, 

under  the  silt, 
I  came  on  the  wreck  of  a  palace  such  as  a  King 

had  built. 


There  was  no  worth  in  the  fashion — there  was  no 

wit  in  the  plan — 
Hither  and  thither,  aimless,  the  ruined  footings 

ran — 
Masonry,    brute,    mishandled,    but    carven    on 

every  stone : 
"  After  rne. Cometh  a  Builder.     Tell  him,  I  too  have 

known. " 

0^ 


THE  PALACE  67 

Swift  to  my  use  in  my  trenches,  where  my  well- 
planned  ground-works  grew, 

I  tumbled  his  quoins  and  his  ashlars,  and  cut 
and  reset  them  anew. 

Lime  I  milled  of  the  marbles ;  burned  it,  slacked 
it,  and  spread; 

Taking  and  leaving  at  pleasure  the  gifts  of  the 
humble  dead. 


Yet    I    despised   not   nor   gloried;   yet,    as   we 

wrenched  them  apart, 
I  read  in  the  razed  foundations  the  heart  of  that 

builder's  heart. 
As  he  had  risen  and  pleaded,  so  did  I  understand 
The  form  of  the  dream  he  had  followed  in  the 

face  of  the  thing  he  had  planned. 


When  I  was  a  King  and  a  Mason — in  the  open 

noon  of  my  pride, 
They  sent  me  a  Word  from  the  Darkness — They 

whispered  and  called  me  aside. 


68  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

They   said— "The   end    is    forbidden."      They 

said — "Thy  use  is  fulfilled, 
"And  thy  palace  shall  stand  as  that  other's — 

the  spoil  of  a  King  who  shall  build. " 

I  called  my  men  from  my  trenches,  my  quarries, 

my  wharves,  and  my  shears. 
All  I  had  wrought  I  abandoned  to  the  faith  of 

the  faithless  years. 
Only  I  cut  on  the  timber,  only  I  carved  on  the 

stone : 
After  me  cometh  a  Builder.    Tell  him,  I  too  have 

known ! 


SUSSEX 

God  gave  all  men  all  earth  to  love, 

But  since  our  hearts  are  small. 
Ordained  for  each  one  spot  should  prove 

Beloved  over  all; 
That  as  He  watched  Creation's  birth, 

So  we,  in  godlike  mood, 
May  of  our  love  create  our  earth 

And  see  that  it  is  good. 


So  one  shall  Baltic  pines  content, 

As  one  some  Surrey  glade. 
Or  one  the  palm-grove's  droned  lament 

Before  Levuka's  trade. 
Each  to  his  choice,  and  I  rejoice 

The  lot  has  fallen  to  me 
In  a  fair  ground — in  a  fair  ground — 

Yea,  Sussex  by  the  sea ! 
69 


70  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

No  tender-hearted  garden  crowns, 

No  bosomed  woods  adorn 
Our  blunt,  bow-headed,  whale-backed  Downs, 

But  gnarled  and  writhen  thorn — 
Bare  slopes  where  chasing  shadows  skim, 

And  through  the  gaps  revealed 
Belt  upon  belt,  the  wooded,  dim 

Blue  goodness  of  the  Weald. 


Clean  of  officious  fence  or  hedge. 

Half-wild  and  wholly  tame. 
The  wise  turf  cloaks  the  white  cliff  edge 

As  when  the  Romans  came. 
What  sign  of  those  that  fought  and  died 

At  shift  of  sword  and  sword? 
The  barrow  and  the  camp  abide, 

The  sunlight  and  the  sward. 


Here  leaps  ashore  the  full  Sou'west 
All  heavy- winged  with  brine. 

Here  lies  above  the  folded  crest 
The  Channel's  leaden  line; 


SUSSEX  71 

And  here  the  sea-fogs  lap  and  cHng, 

And  here,  each  warning  each, 
The  sheep-bells  and  the  ship-bells  ring 

Along  the  hidden  beach. 


We  have  no  waters  to  delight 

Our  broad  and  brookless  vales — 
Only  the  dewpond  on  the  height 

Unfed,  that  never  fails, 
Whereby  no  tattered  herbage  tells 

Which  way  the  season  flies — 
Only  our  close-bit  thyme  that  smells 

Like  dawn  in  Paradise. 


Here  through  the  strong  unhampered  days 

The  tinkling  silence  thrills; 
Or  little,  lost,  Down  churches  praise 

The  Lord  who  made  the  hills : 
But  here  the  Old  Gods  guard  their  round, 

And,  in  her  secret  heart. 
The  heathen  kingdom  Wilfrid  found 

Dreams,  as  she  dwells,  apart. 


73  THE  FIVE  NATIONS  - 

Though  all  the  rest  were  all  my  share, 

With  equal  soul  I'd  see 
Her  nine-and-thirty  sisters  fair, 

Yet  none  more  fair  than  she. 
Choose  ye  your  need  from  Thames  to  Tweed, 

And  I  will  choose  instead 
Such  lands  as  lie  'twixt  Rake  and  Rye, 

Black  Down  and  Beachy  Head. 


I  will  go  out  against  the  sun 

Where  the  rolled  scarp  retires, 
And  the  Long  Man  of  Wilmington 

Looks  naked  toward  the  shires ; 
And  east  till  doubling  Rother  crawls 

To  find  the  fickle  tide, 
By  dry  and  sea-forgotten  walls, 

Our  ports  of  stranded  pride. 


I  will  go  north  about  the  shaws 
And  the  deep  ghylls  that  breed 

Huge  oaks  and  old,  the  which  we  hold 
No  more  than  "  Sussex  weed  "; 


SUSSEX  73 

Or  south  where  windy  Piddinghoe's 

Begilded  dolphin  veers, 
And  black  beside  wide-banked  Ouse 

Lie  down  our  Sussex  steers. 


So  to  the  land  our  hearts  we  give 

Till  the  sure  magic  strike, 
And  Memory,  Use,  and  Love  make  live 

Us  and  our  fields  alike — 
That  deeper  than  our  speech  and  thought, 

Beyond  our  reason's  sway. 
Clay  of  the  pit  whence  we  were  wrought 

Yearns  to  its  fellow-clay. 

God  gives  all  men  all  earth  to  love, 

But  since  man's  heart  is  small, 
Ordains  for  each  one  spot  shall  prove 

Beloved  over  all. 
Each  to  his  choice,  and  I  rejoice 

The  lot  has  fallen  to  me 
In  a  fair  ground — in  a  fair  ground-— 

Yea,  Sussex  by  the  sea  ! 


SONG  OF  THE  WISE  CHILDREN 

When  the  darkened  Fifties  dip  to  the  North, 
And  frost  and  the  fog  divide  the  air, 

And  the  day  is  dead  at  his  breaking-forth, 
Sirs,  it  is  bitter  beneath  the  Bear ! 

Far  to  Southward  they  wheel  and  glance, 
The  million  molten  spears  of  mom — 

The  spears  of  our  deliverance 

That  shine  on  the  house  where  we  were  bom. 

Flying-fish  about  our  bows, 

Flying  sea-fires  in  our  wake : 
This  is  the  road  to  our  Father's  House, 

Whither  we  go  for  our  soul's  sake  ! 

We  have  forfeited  our  birthright, 

We  have  forsaken  all  things  meet ; 
We  have  forgotten  the  look  of  light. 

We  have  forgotten  the  scent  of  heat. 
74 


SONG  OF  THE  WISE  CHILDREN  75 

They  that  walk  with  shaded  brows, 

Year  by  year  in  a  shining  land, 
They  be  men  of  our  Father's  House, 

They  shall  receive  us  and  understand. 

We  shall  go  back  by  boltless  doors. 

To  the  life  unaltered  our  childhood  knew — 

To  the  naked  feet  on  the  cool,  dark  floors, 

And  the  high-ceiled  rooms  that  the  Trade 
blows  through : 

To  the  trumpet-flowers  and  the  moon  beyond, 
And  the  tree-toad's  chorus  drowning  all — 

And  the  lisp  of  the  split  banana-frond 

That  talked  us  to  sleep  when  we  were  small. 

The  wayside  magic,  the  threshold  spells. 

Shall  soon  undo  what  the  North  has  done — 

Because  of  the  sights  and  the  sounds  and  the 
smells 
That  ran  with  our  youth  in  the  eye  of  the  sun  ! 

And  Earth  accepting  shall  ask  no  vows. 

Nor  the  Sea  our  love  nor  our  lover  the  Sky. 

When  we  return  to  our  Father's  House 
Only  the  English  shall  wonder  why ! 


BUDDHA   AT   KAMAKURA 

"And  there  is  a  Japanese  idol  at  Kamakura  " 

Oh  ye  who  tread  the  Narrow  Way 
By  Tophet-flare  to  Judgment  Day, 
Be  gentle  when  the  "  heathen  "  pray 
To  Buddha  at  Kamakura ! 

To  him  the  Way,  the  Law,  Apart, 
Whom  Maya  held  beneath  her  heart, 
Ananda's  Lord  the  Bodhisat, 
The  Buddha  of  Kamakura. 

For  though  he  neither  bums  nor  sees, 
Nor  hears  ye  thank  your  Deities, 
Ye  have  not  sinned  with  such  as  these, 
His  children  at  Kamakura; 

Yet  spare  us  still  the  Western  joke 
When  joss-sticks  turn  to  scented  smoke 
The  little  sins  of  little  folk 

That  worship  at  Kamakura — 
76 


BUDDHA  AT  KAMAKURA  77 

The  grey-robed,  gay-sashed  butterflies 
That  flit  beneath  the  Master's  eyes — 
He  is  beyond  the  Mysteries 
But  loves  them  at  Kamakura. 

And  whoso  will,  from  Pride  released, 
Contemning  neither  creed  nor  priest, 
May  feel  the  soul  of  all  the  East 
About  him  at  Kamakura. 

Yea,  every  tale  Ananda  heard, 
Of  birth  as  fish  or  beast  or  bird, 
While  yet  in  lives  the  Master  stirred, 
The  warm  wind  brings  Kamakura. 

Till  drowsy  eyelids  seem  to  see 
A-flower  'neath  her  golden  htee 
The  Shwe-Dagon  flare  easterly 
From  Burmah  to  Kamakura; 

And  down  the  loaded  air  there  comes 
The  thunder  of  Thibetan  drums, 
And  droned — "  Om  mane  padme  oms" — 
A  world's  width  from  Kamakura. 


78  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Yet  Brahmans  rule  Benares  still, 
Buddh-Gaya's  ruins  pit  the  hill, 
And  beef-fed  zealots  threaten  ill 
To  Buddha  and  Kamakura. 

A  tourist-show,  a  legend  told, 
A  rusting  bulk  of  bronze  and  gold, 
So  much,  and  scarce  so  much,  ye  hold 
The  meaning  of  Kamakura  ? 

But  when  the  morning  prayer  is  prayed, 
Think,  ere  ye  pass  to  strife  and  trade. 
Is  God  in  human  image  made 
No  nearer  than  Kamakura? 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  BURDEN 

Take  up  the  White  Man's  burden — 

Send  forth  the  best  ye  breed — 
Go  bind  your  sons  to  exile 

To  serve  your  captives'  need; 
To  wait  in  heavy  harness, 

On  fluttered  folk  and  wild — 
Your  new-caught,  sullen  peoples, 

Half-devil  and  half-child. 

Take  up  the  White  Man's  burden — 

In  patience  to  abide, 
To  veil  the  threat  of  terror 

And  check  the  show  of  pride ; 
By  open  speech  and  simple. 

An  hundred  times  made  plain, 
To  seek  another's  profit, 

And  work  another's  gain. 

Cty^Tii^t,  1899,  hj  Rudfud  ElpUng 

79 


8o  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Take  up  the  White  Man's  burden- 

The  savage  wars  of  peace — 
Fill  full  the  mouth  of  Famine 

And  bid  the  sickness  cease; 
And  when  your  goal  is  nearest 

The  end  for  others  sought, 
Watch  Sloth  and  heathen  Folly 

Bring  all  your  hope  to  nought. 


Take  up  the  White  Man's  burden — 

No  tawdry  rule  of  kings, 
But  toil  of  serf  and  sweeper — 

The  tale  of  common  things. 
The  ports  ye  shall  not  enter. 

The  roads  ye  shall  not  tread, 
Go  make  them  with  your  living, 

And  mark  them  with    our  dead. 


Take  up  the  White  Man's  burden — 
And  reap  his  old  reward: 

The  blame  of  those  ye  better. 
The  hate  of  those  ye  guard — 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  BURDEN  8i 

The  cry  of  hosts  ye  humour 

(Ah,  slowly !)  toward  the  light : — 

"Why  brought  ye  us  from  bondage, 
Our  loved  Egyptian  night?" 


Take  up  the  White  Man's  burden — 

Ye  dare  not  stoop  to  less — 
Nor  call  too  loud  on  Freedom 

To  cloak  your  weariness; 
By  all  ye  cry  or  whisper, 

By  all  ye  leave  or  do, 
The  silent,  sullen  peoples 

Shall  weigh  your  Gods  and  you. 


Take  up  the  White  Man's  burden — 

Have  done  with  childish  days — 
The  lightly  proffered  laurel. 

The  easy,  ungrudged  praise. 
Comes  now,  to  search  you?  manhood 

Through  all  the  thankless  years. 
Cold,  edged  with  dear-bought  wisdom, 

The  judgment  of  your  peers ! 


PHARAOH  AND  THE  SERGEANT 

"...  Consider  that  the  meritorious  services  of 
the  Sergeant  Instructors  attached  to  the  Egyptian 
Army  have  been  inadequately  acknowledged.  .  .  . 
To  the  excellence  of  their  work  is  mainly  due  the  great 
improvement  that  has  taken  place  in  the  soldiers  of 
H.  H.  the  Khedive." 

Extract  from  letter. 

Said  England  unto  Pharaoh,  "I  must  make  a 

man  of  you, 

That  will  stand  upon  his  feet  and  play  the 

game; 

That  will  Maxim  his  oppressor  as  a  Christian 

ought  to  do," 

And  she  sent  old  Pharaoh  Sergeant  Whatis- 

name. 

It  was  not  a  Duke  nor  Earl,  nor  yet    a 

Vwcount — 

It    was    not   a   big  brass   General   that 

came ; 

But    a    man    in     khaki     kit    who    could 

handle  men  a  bit, 
* 
With     his     bedding    labelled    Sergeant 

Whatisname. 

OopjTlcht,  1897, 1>j  Radfmrd  Kipling 

82 


PHARAOH  AND  THE  SERGEANT    83 

Said    England     unto     Pharaoh,    "Though    at 
present  singing  small, 
You  shall  hum  a  proper  tune  before  it  ends," 
And  she  introduced  old  Pharaoh  to  the  Sergeant 
once  for  all, 
And  left  'em  in  the  desert  making  friends. 
It  was  not  a  Crystal  Palace  nor  Cathedral ; 
It  was    not  a  public-house  of  common 
fame; 
But  a  piece  of  red-hot  sand,  with  a  palm 
on  either  hand. 
And  a  little  hut    for  Sergeant  Whatis- 
name. 

Said    England    unto    Pharaoh,    "You've    had 
miracles    before, 
When  Aaron  struck  your  rivers  into  blood; 
But  if  you  watch  the  Sergeant  he  can  show  you 
something  more, 
He  's  a  charm  for  making  riflemen  from  mud. " 
It   was    neither    Hindustani,    French,  nor 
Coptics ; 
It  was  odds  and  ends  and  leavings  of 
the  same. 


84  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Translated    by    a    stick  (which    is    really- 
half  the  trick), 
And  Pharaoh  harked  to  Sergeant  What- 
isname. 

(There  were  years  that  no  one  talked  of;  there 
were  times  of  horrid  doubt — 
There  was  faith  and  hope  and  whacking  and 
despair — 
While  the  Sergeant  gave  the  Cautions  and  he 
combed  old  Pharaoh  out, 
And  England  didn't  seem  to  know  nor  care. 
That  is    England's    awful    way    o'    doing 
business — 
She    would    serve    her    God  or  Gordon 
just  the  same — 
For   she    thinks    her    Empire   still  is   the 
Strand  and  Holbom  Hill, 
And     she     didn't     think     of    Sergeant 
Whatisname.) 

Said  England  to  the  Sergeant,  "You  can  let  my 
people  go !" 
(England  used  'em  cheap  and  nasty  from  the 
start), 


I>HARAOH  AND  THE  SERGEANT         85 

And  they  entered   'em  in   battle    on    a  most 
astonished  foe — 
But  the  Sergeant  he  had  hardened  Pharaoh's 
heart. 

That  was  broke,  along  of  all  the  plagues 
of  Egypt, 
Three   thousand  years   before    the   Ser- 
geant came — 
And  he  mended  it  again  in  a  little  more 
than  ten. 
So  Pharaoh  fought  like  Sergeant  What- 
isname ! 


It    was   wicked   bad   campaigning   (cheap   and 
nasty  from  the  first), 
There  was  heat  and  dust  and  coolie-work  and 
sun. 
There  were  vipers,  flies,  and  sandstorms,  there 
was  cholera  and  thirst. 
But  Pharaoh  done  the  best  he  ever  done. 
Down  the  desert,  down  the  railway,  down 
the  river, 
Like  Israelites  from  bondage  so  he  came, 


86  THE  FIViE  NATIONS   ' 

'Tween  the  clouds  o'  dust  and  fire  to  the 

land  of  his  desire, 
Aind  his  Moses,  it  was  Sergeant    Whatis- 
name  ! 

We  are  eating  dirt  in  handfuls  for  to  save  our 
daily  bread, 
Which  we  have  to  buy  from  those  that  hate 
us  most. 
And  we  must  not  raise  the  money  where  the 
Sergeant  raised  the  dead. 
And  it's  wrong  and  bad  and  dangerous  to 
boast. 

But  he  did    it    on   the  cheap    and  on  the 
quiet, 
And  he's   not    allowed   to  forward  any 
claim — 
Though    he    drilled    a  black   man    white, 
though  he  make  a  mummy  fight, 
He  will    still    continue   Sergeant  What- 
isname — 
Private,     Corporal,     Colour-Sergeant,    and 
Instructor — 
But  the  everlasting  miracle's  the  same ! 


OUR  LADY  OF  THE  SNOWS 

(CANADIAN    PREFERENTIAL    TARIFF,    1 897) 

A  Nation  spoke  to  a  Nation, 
A  Queen  sent  word  to  a  Throne : 

"Daughter  am  I  in  my  mother's  house, 
But  mistress  in  my  own. 

The  gates  are  mine  to  open, 
As  the  gates  are  mine  to  close, 

And  I  set  my  house  in  order," 
•  Said  our  Lady  of  the  Snows. 

"  Neither  with  laughter  nor  weeping. 

Fear  or  the  child's  amaze — 
Soberly  under  the  White  Man's  law 

My  white  men  go  their  ways. 
Not  for  the  Gentiles'  clamour — 

Insult  or  threat  of  blows — 
Bow  we  the  knee  to  Baal," 

Said  our  Lady  of  the  Snows. 
87 


88  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

"  My  speech  is  clean  and  single, 

I  talk  of  common  things — 
Words  of  the  wharf  and  the  market-place 

And  the  ware  the  merchant  brings : 
Favour  to  those  I  favour, 

But  a  stumbling-block  to  my  foes. 
Many  there  be  that  hate  us," 

Said  our  Lady  of  the  Snows. 


"  I  called  my  chiefs  to  council 

In  the  din  of  a  troubled  year ; 
For  the  sake  of  a  sign  ye  would  not  see, 

And  a  word  ye  would  not  hear. 
This  is  our  message  and  answer; 

This  is  the  path  we  chose : 
For  we  be  also  a  people," 

Said  our  Lady  of  the  Snows. 


"Carry  the  word  to  my  sisters — 

To  the  Queens  of  the  East  and  the  South. 

I  have  proven  faith  in  the  Heritage 
By  more  than  the  word  of  the  mouth. 


OUR  LADY  OF  THE  SNOWS  89 

They  that  are  wise  may  follow 

Ere  the  world's  war-trumpet  blows: 

But  I — I  am  first  in  the  battle," 
Said  our  Lady  of  the  Snows, 


A  Nation  spoke  to  a  Nation, 

A  Throne  sent  word  to  a  Throne: 
**  Daughter  am  I  in  my  mother's  house. 

But  mistress  in  my  own ! 
The  gates  are  mine  to  open, 

As  the  gates  are  mine  to  close, 
And  I  abide  by  my  mother's  house," 

Said  our  Lady  of  the  Snows, 


"ET   DONA   FERENTES" 

In  extended  observation  of  the  ways  and  works 

of  man, 
From   the    Four-mile    Radius    roughly   to   the 

plains  of  Hindustan : 
I  have  drunk  with  mixed  assemblies,  seen  the 

racial  ruction  rise, 
And  the   men   of  half   creation  damning  half 

creation's  eyes. 


I  have  watched  them  in  their  tantrums,  all  that 

Pentecostal  crew, 
French,    Italian,    Arab,    Spaniard,    Dutch   and 

Greek,  and  Russ  and  Jew, 
Celt  and  savage,  buff  and  ochre,   cream  and 

yellow,  mauve  and  white, 
But  it  never  really  mattered  till  the  English 

grew  polite ; 

Copjil^ht,  IBM,  bj  Rudyud  KlpUsf 

90 


"Et  DONA  FERENTES"  9I 

Till  the  men  with  poUshed  toppers,  till  the  men 

in  long  frock-coats, 
Till  the  men  that  do  not  duel,  till  the  men  who 

fight  with  votes, 
Till  the  breed  that  take  their  pleasures  as  Saint 

Laurence  took  his  grid. 
Began  to  "  beg  your  pardon  "  and — the  knowing 

croupier  hid. 


Then  the  bandsmen  with  their  fiddles,  and  the 

girls  that  bring  the  beer, 
Felt  the  psychologic  moment,  left  the  lit  casino 

clear; 
But  the  uninstructed  alien,  from  the  Teuton  to 

the  Gaul, 
Was  entrapped,  once  more,  my  country,  by  that 

suave,  deceptive  drawl. 


As  it  was  in   ancient   Suez  or   'neath  wilder, 

milder  skies, 
I  "observe  with  apprehension"  when  the  racial 

ructions  rise ; 


92  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

And  with  keener  apprehension,  if  I  read  the 

times    aright, 
Hear  the  old  casino  order:  "Watch  your  man, 

but  be  poHte. 


"Keep  your  temper.     Never  answer  (that  was 

why  they  spat  and  swore). 
Don't  hit  first,  but  move  together  (there's  no 

hurry)  to  the  door. 
Back  to  back,  and  facing  outward  while  the 

linguist  tells  'em  how — 
'Nous  sommes   allong   a  notre  batteau,  nous  ne 

voulong  pas  un  row.'" 


So  the  hard,  pent  rage  ate  inward,  till  some 
idiot  went  too  far     .     .     . 

"Let  'em  have  it!"  and  they  had  it,  and  the 
same  was  serious  war. 

Fist,  umbrella,  cane,  decanter,  lamp  and  beer- 
mug,  chair  and  boot — 

Till  behind  the  fleeing  legions  rose  the  long, 
hoarse  yell  for  loot. 


"ET  DONA  FERENTES"  93 

Then  the  oil-cloth  with  its  numbers,  as  a  banner 

fluttered  free; 
Then  the  grand  piano  cantered,  on  three  castors, 

down  the  quay ; 
White,   and   breathing  through  their  nostrils, 

silent,  systematic,  swift — 
They  removed,  effaced,  abolished  all  that  man 

could  heave  or  lift. 


Oh,  my  country,  bless  the  training  that  from 

cot  to  castle  runs — 
The  pitfall  of  the  stranger  but  the  bulwark  of 

thy  sons — 
Measured  speech  and  ordered  action,  sluggish 

soul  and  unperturbed. 
Till  we   wake    our    Island-Devil — nowise    cool 

for  being  curbed ! 


When  the  heir  of  all  the  ages  "  has  the  honour  to 

remain," 
When  he  will  not  hear  an  insult,  though  men 

make  it  ne'er  so  plain, 


94  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

When  his  lips  are  schooled  to  meekness,  when 

his  back  is  bowed  to  blows — 
Well  the   keen    aas-vogels    know    it — v/ell    the 

waiting  jackal  knows. 

Build  on  the  flanks  of  Etna  where  the  sullen 

smoke-pufEs  float — 
Or  bathe  in  tropic  waters  where  the  lean  fin 

dogs  the  boat — 
Cock  the  gun  that  is  not  loaded,  cook  the  frozen 

dynamite — 
But   oh,  beware  my  country,  when  my  country 

grows  polite ! 


KITCHENER'S  SCHOOL 

Being  a  translation  of  tJte  song  that  was  made  by  a 
Mohammedan  schoohnaster  of  Bengal  Infantry  (some  time 
on  service  at  Suakim)  wlien  he  heard  that  the  Sirdar  was 
taking  m-oney  from  the  English  to  build  a  Madrissa  for 
Hubshees — or  a  college  for  the  Sudanese,  i8g8. 

Oh  Hubshee,  carry  your  shoes  in  your  hand  and 
bow  your  head  on  your  breast ! 

This  is  the  message  of  Kitchener  who  did  not 
break  you  in  jest. 

It  was  permitted  to  him  to  fulfil  the  long- 
appointed  years, 

Reaching  the  end  ordained  of  old  over  your 
dead  Emirs. 


He  stamped  only  before  your  walls,  and  the 

Tomb  ye  knew  was  dust: 
He  gathered  up  under  his  armpits  all  the  swords 

of  your  trust: 

CopTright,  1B98,  b7  Rudjurd  XlpIUg 

95 


96  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

He  set  a  guard  on  your  granaries,  securing  the 

weak  from  the  strong: 
He  said: — "Gro  work  the  waterwheels  that  were 

abolished  so  long. " 


He  said: — "Go  safely,  being  abased.     I  have 

accomplished  my  vow. " 
That  was  the  mercy  of  Kitchener.     Cometh  his 

madness  now ! 
He  does  not  desire  as  ye  desire,  nor  devise  as  ye 

devise : 
He  is  preparing  a  second  host — an  army  to  make 

you  wise. 


Not  at  the  mouth  of  his  clean-lipped  guns  shall 

ye  learn  his  name  again, 
But  letter  by  letter,  from  Kaf  to  Kaf,  at  the 

mouth  of  his  chosen  men. 
He  has  gone  back  to  his  own  city,  not  seeking 

presents  or  bribes. 
But  openly  asking  the  English  for  money  to  buy 

you  Hakims  and  scribes. 


KITCHENER'S  SCHOOL  97 

Knowing  that  ye  are  forfeit  by  battle  and  have 

no  right  to  live, 
He  begs  for  money  to  bring  you  learning — and 

all  the  English  give. 
It  is  their  treasure — it  is  their  pleasure — thus 

are  their  hearts  inclined : 
For  Allah  created  the  English  mad — the  maddest 

of  all  mankind ! 


They  do  not  consider  the  Meaning  of  Things; 

they  consult  not  creed  nor  clan. 
Behold,  they  clap  the  slave  on  the  back,  and 

behold,  he  ariseth  a  man  ! 
They  terribly  carpet  the  earth  with  dead,  and 

before  their  cannon  cool. 
They  walk  unarmed  by  twos  and  threes  to  call 

the  living  to  school. 


How  is  this  reason  (which  is  their  reason)  to 

judge  a  scholar's  worth. 
By  casting  a  ball  at  three  straight  sticks  and 

defending  the  same  with  a  fourth  ? 


98  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

But  this  they  do  (which  is  doubtless  a  spell)  and 

other  matters  more  strange, 
Until,  by  the  operation  of  years,  the  hearts  of 

their  scholars  change: 


Till  these  make  come  and  go  great  boats  or 

engines  upon  the  rail 
(But  always  the  English  watch  near  by  to  prop 

them  when  they  fail) ; 
Till  these  make  laws  of  their  own  choice  and 

Judges  of  their  own  blood ; 
And  all  the  mad  English  obey  the  Judges  and 

say  that  the  Law  is  good. 


Certainly  they  were  mad  from  of  old:   but  I 

think  one  new  thing. 
That  the  magic  whereby  they  work  their  magic 

— ^wherefrom  their  forttmes  spring — 
May  be  that  they  show  all  peoples  their  magic 

and  ask  no  price  in  return. 
Wherefore,   since  ye  are  bond  to  that  magic, 

O  Hubshee,  make  haste  and  learn ! 


KITCHENER'S  SCHOOL  99 

Certainly  also  is  Kitchener  mad.     But  one  sure 

thing  I  know — 
If  he  who  broke  you  be  minded  to  teach  you, 

to  his  Madrissa  go  ! 
Go,   and   carry  your   shoes  in  your  hand  and 

bow  your  head  on  your  breast. 
For  he  who  did  not  slay  you  in  sport,  he  will 

not  teach  you  in  jest. 


THE  YOUNG  QUEEN 

THE   COMMONWEALTH   OF    AUSTRALIA,   INAUGURATED 
NEW    year's    DAY    I901) 

Her  hand  was  still  on  her  sword-hilt,  the  spur 

was  still  on  her  heel, 
She  had  not  cast  her  harness  of  grey  war-dinted 

steel ; 
High    on    her  red-splashed  charger,  beautiful, 

bold,  and  browned, 
Bright-eyed  out  of  the  battle,  the  Young  Queen 

rode  to  be  crowned. 

She    came  to   the    Old    Queen's    presence,    in 

the  Hall  of  Our  Thousand  Years — 
In  the  Hall  of  the  Five  Free  Nations  that  are 

peers  among  their  peers: 
Royal  she  gave  the  greeting,  loyal  she  bowed 

the  head, 
Crying — "Crown  me,  my  Mother!"     And  the 

Old  Queen  stood  and  said: — 

OcprHcbt,  1900,  bj  Rtidr*rd  Eipllnc 


THE  YOUNG  QUEEN  loi 

"How  can  I  crown  thee  further ?     I  know  whose 

standard  flies 
Where  the  clean  surge  takes  the  Leeuwin  or  the 

coral  barriers  rise. 
Blood  of  our  foes  on  thy  bridle,  and  speech  of 

our  friends  in  thy  mouth — 
How  can  I  crown  thee  further,  O  Queen  of  the 

Sovereign  South? 

"Let  the   Five   Free   Nations  witness!"     But 

the  Young  Queen  answered  swift : — 
"  It  shall  be  crown  of  Our  crowning  to  hold  Our 

crown  for  a  gift. 
In  the  days  when  Our  folk  were  feeble  thy  sword 

made  sure  Our  lands: 
Wherefore  We  come  in  power  to  take  Our  crown 

at  thy  hands. " 

And  the  Old  Queen  raised  and  kissed  her,  and 

the  jealous  circlet  prest. 
Roped  with  the  pearls  of  the  Northland  and  red 

with  the  gold  of  the  West, 
Lit  with  her  land's  own  opals,  levin-hearted, 

alive. 
And  the  Five-starred  Cross  above  them,  for 

sign  of  the  Nations  Five. 


I02  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

So  it  was  done  in  the  Presence — in  the  Hall  of 
Our  Thousand  Years, 

In  the  face  of  the  Five  Free  Nations  that  have 
no  peer  but  their  peers ; 

And  the  Young  Queen  out  of  the  Southland 
kneeled  down  at  the  Old  Queen's  knee, 

And  asked  for  a  mother's  blessing  on  the  excel- 
lent years  to  be. 


And  the  Old  Queen  stooped  in  the  stillness  where 

the  jewelled  head  drooped  low: — 
"Daughter    no    more    but    Sister,  and  doubly 

Daughter  so — 
Mother  of  many  princes — and  child  of  the  child 

I  bore. 
What  good  thing  shall  I  wish  thee  that  I  have 

not  wished  before  ? 


"  Shall  I  give  thee  delight  in  dominion — mere 

pride  of  thy  setting  forth  ? 
Nay,  we  be  women  together — we  know  what 

that  lust  is  worth. 


THE  YOUNG  QUEEN  103 

Peace  in  thy  utmost  borders,  and  strength  on  a 

road  untrod  ? 
These  are  dealt  or  diminished  at  the  secret  will 

of  God. 


•'  I  have  swayed  troublous  councils,  I  am  wise 

in  terrible  things; 
Father  and  son  and  grandson,  I  have  known  the 

heart  of  the  Kings. 
Shall  I  give  thee  my  sleepless  wisdom,  or  the  gift 

all  wisdom  above  ? 
Ay,  we  be  women  together — I  give  thee  thy 

people's  love: 


•'  Tempered,  august,  abiding,  reluctant  of 
prayers  or  vows, 

Eager  in  face  of  peril  as  thine  for  thy  mother's 
house, 

God  requite  thee,  my  Sister,  through  the  won- 
derful years  to  be. 

And  make  thy  people  to  love  thee  as  thou  hast 
loved  me!" 


RIMMON 

Duly  with  knees  that  feign  to  quake — 

Bent  head  and  shaded  brow, — 
Yet  once  again,  for  my  father's  sake, 

In  Rimmon's  House  I  bow. 

The  curtains  part,  and  the  trumpet  blares, 

And  the  eunuchs  howl  aloud ; 
And  the  gilt,  swag-bellied  idol  glares 

Insolent  over  the  crowd. 

"  This  is  Rimmon,  Lord  of  the  Earth--' 

"Fear  Him  and  bow  the  knee  /" 
And  I  watch  my  comrades  hide  their  mirth 

That  rode  to  the  wars  with  me. 

For  we  remember  the  sun  and  the  sand 

And  the  rocks  whereon  we  trod, 
Ere  we  came  to  a  scorched  and  a  scornful  land 

That  did  not  know  our  God; 
104 


RIMMON  105 

As  we  remember  the  sacrifice 

Dead  men  an  hundred  laid — 
Slain  while  they  served  His  mysteries 

And  that  He  would  not  aid. 

Not  though  we  gashed  ourselves  and  wept, 
For  the  high-priest  bade  us  wait ; 

Saying  He  went  on  a  journey  or  slept, 
Or  was  drunk  or  had  taken  a  mate. 

{Praise  ye  Rimmon,  King  of  Kings, 

Who  ruleth  Earth  and  Sky  ! 
And  again  I  bow  as  the  censer  swings 

And  the  God  Enthroned  goes  by.) 

Ay,  we  remember  His  sacred  ark 
And  the  virtuous  men  that  knelt 

To  the  dark  .and  the  hush  behind  the  dark 
Wherein  we  dreamed  He  dwelt; 

Until  we  entered  to  hale  Him  out, 

And  found  no  more  than  an  old 
Uncleanly  image  girded  about 

The  loins  with  scarlet  and  gold. 


io6  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Him  we  o'erset  with  the  butts  of  our  spears- 

Him  and  his  vast  designs — 
To  be  the  scorn  of  our  muleteers 

And  the  jest  of  our  halted  lines. 

By  the  picket-pins  that  the  dogs  defile, 
In  the  dung  and  the  dust  He  lay, 

Till  the  priests  ran  and  chattered  awhile 
And  wiped  Him  and  took  Him  away. 

Hushing  the  matter  before  it  was  known. 
They  returned  to  our  fathers  afar, 

And  hastily  set  Him  afresh  on  His  throne 
Because  He  had  won  us  the  war. 

Wherefore  with  knees  that  feign  to  quake — 

Bent  head  and  shaded  brow — 
To  this  dead  dog,  for  my  father's  sake. 

In  Rimmon's  House  I  bow. 


THE  OLD  ISSUE 

OCTOBER  9TH,  1899 

"Here  is  nothing    new    nor  aught    tinproven," 
say  the  Trumpets, 
"Many  feet  have  worn  it  and  the  road  is  old 
indeed. 
"It  is   the  King — the  King  we  schooled  afore- 
time !" 
{Trumpets   in    the  marshes — in    the   eyot    at 
Runnytnede  !  ) 


"Here  is  neither  haste,   nor  hate,  nor  anger, '^ 
peal  the  Trumpets, 
"Pardon  for  his  penitence  or  pity  for  his  fall. 
"It  is  the  King!" — inexorable  Trumpets — 
(Trumpets  round  the  scaffold  at  the  dawning 
by  Whitehall ! ) 

Capyiltht,  1890,  by  Rudyard  Klpllsf,  under  «U»  "Th«  King" 


loS  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

''He  hath  veiled  the  crown  and  htd  the  sceptre," 
warn  the  Trumpets, 
"He  hath  changed  the  fashion  of  the  lies  that 
cloak  his  will. 
" Hard  die  the  Kings — ah  hard — dooms  hard!" 
declare  the  Trumpets, 
Trumpets  at  the  gang-plank  where  the  brawl- 
ing troop-decks  fill ! 

Ancient     and     Unteachable,     abide — abide     the 
Trumpets  I 
Once  again  the  Trumpets,  for  the  shuddering 
ground-swell  brings 
Clamour    over    ocean    of    the    harsh    pursuing 
Trumpets — 
Trumpets  of  the  Vanguard  that  have  sworn  no 
truce  with  Kings  ! 

All  we  have  of  freedom,  all  we  use  or  know — 
This  our  fathers  bought  for  us  long  and  long  ago. 

Ancient  Right  unnoticed  as  the  breath  we  draw — 
Leave  to  live  by  no  man's  leave,  underneath 
the  Law. 


THE  OLD  ISSUE  109 

Lance  and  torch  and  tumult,  steel  and  grey- 
goose  wing 

Wrenched  it,  inch  and  ell  and  all,  slowly  from 
the  King. 

Till  our  fathers  'stablished,  after  bloody  years, 
How  our  King  is  one  with  us,  first  among  his 
peers. 

So  they  bought  us  freedom — not  at  little  cost — 
Wherefore  must  we  watch  the  King,  lest  our 
gain  be  lost. 

Over  all  things  certain,  this  is  sure  indeed. 
Suffer  not  the  old  King :  for  we  know  the  breed. 

Give  no  ear  to  bondsmen  bidding  us  endure, 
Whining  "He  is  weak  and  far"  ;  crying  "Time 
shall  cure. " 

(Time  himself  is  witness,  till  the  battle  joins, 
Deeper  strikes  the  rottenness  in  the  people's 
loins.) 


no  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Give  no  heed  to  bondsmen  masking  war  with 

peace. 
Suffer  not  the  old  King  here  or  overseas . 

They   that  beg  us    barter — wait    his  yielding 

mood — 
Pledge  the  years  we  hold  in  trust — pawn  our 

brother's  blood — 

Howso'  great   their   clamour,  whatsoe'er  their 

claim, 
Suffer  not  the  old  King  under  any  name  ! 

Here  is  naught  unproven — here  is  naught  to 

learn. 
It  is  written  what  shall  fall  if  the  King  return. 

He  shall  mark  our  goings,  question  whence  we 

came, 
Set  his  guards  about  us,  as  in  Freedom's  name. 

He  shall  take  a  tribute,  toll  of  all  our  ware; 
He  shall  change  our  gold  for  arms — arms  we 
may  not  bear. 

He  shall  break  his  Judges  if  they  cross  his  word ; 
He  shall  rule  above  the  Law  calling  on  the  Lord, 


THE  OLD  ISSUE  Hi 

He  shall  peep  and  mutter;   and  the  night  shall 

bring 
Watchers  'neath  our  window,  lest  we  mock  the 

King- 
Hate  and  all  division ;  hosts  of  hurrying  spies ; 
Money  poured  in  secret,  carrion  breeding  flies. 

Strangers  of  his  council,  hirelings  of  his  pay, 
These  shall  deal  our  Justice:  sell — deny — delay. 

We  shall  drink  dishonour,  we  shall  eat  abuse 
For  the  Land  we  look  to — for  the  Tongue  we  use. 

We  shall  take  our  station,  dirt  beneath  his  feet. 
While  his  hired  captains  jeer  us  in  the  street. 

Cruel  in  the  shadow,  crafty  in  the  sim, 

Far  beyond  his  borders  shall  his  teachings  run. 

Sloven,  sullen,  savage,  secret,  uncontrolled — 
Laying  on  a  new  land  evil  of  the  old ; 

Long-forgotten   bondage,    dwarfing   heart    and 

brain — 
All  our  fathers  died  to  loose  he  shall  bind  again. 


Iia  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Here  is  naught  at  venture,  random  nor  untrue — 
Swings  the  wheel  full-circle,  brims  the  cup  anew. 

Here  is  naught  unproven,  here  is  nothing  hid: 
Step  for  step  and  word  for  word — so  the  old  Kings 
did! 

Step  by  step  and  word  by  word:  who  is  ruled  may 

reed. 
Suffer  not  the  old  Kings — for  we  know  the  breed — 

All  the  right  they  promise — all  the  wrong  they 

bring. 
Stewards  of  the  Judgment,  suffer  not  this  Khig ! 


BRIDGE-GUARD    IN    THE    KARROO 

"and  will  supply  details  to  guard    the  Blood   Rivei 
Bridge." 

District  Orders — Lines  of  Communication. 

Sudden  the  desert  changes, 

The  raw  glare  softens  and  clings, 

Till  the  aching  Oudtshoorn  ranges 
Stand  up  like  the  thrones  of  kings — 


Ramparts  of  slaughter  and  peril — 
Blazing,  amazing — aglow 

'Twixt  the  sky-line's  belting  beryl 
And  the  wine-dark  flats  below. 


Royal  the  pageant  closes, 
Lit  by  the  last  of  the  sun — 

Opal  and  ash-of-roses. 

Cinnamon,  umber,  and  dun. 

CepTiic^t,  1001,  bj  Ruijftrd  ElpUaf 

"3 


114  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

The  twilight  swallows  the  thicket — 
The  starlight  reveals  the  ridge ; 

The  whistle  shrills  to  the  picket 

We  are  changing  guard  on  the  bridge. 

(Few,  forgotten  and  lonely, 

Where  the  empty  metals  shine — 

No,  not  combatants — only 
Details  guarding  the  line.) 

We  slip  through  the  broken  panel 
Of  fence  by  the  ganger's  shed; 

We  drop  to  the  waterless  channel 
And  the  lean  track  overhead; 

We  stumble  on  refuse  of  rations, 
The  beef  and  the  biscuit-tins ; 

We  take  our  appointed  stations. 
And  the  endless  night  begins. 

^We  hear  the  Hottentot  herders 

As  the  sheep  click  past  to  the  fold — 

And  the  click  of  the  restless  girders 
As  the  steel  contracts  in  the  cold 


BRIDGE-GUARD  IN  THE  KARROO       115 

Voices  of  jackals  calling 

And,  loud  in  the  hush  between, 

A  morsel  of  dry  earth  falling 

From  the  flanks  of  the  scarred  ravine. 

And  the  solemn  firmament  marches, 

And  the  hosts  of  heaven  rise 
Framed  through  the  iron  arches — 

Banded  and  barred  by  the  ties. 

Till  we  feel  the  far  track  humming, 
And  we  see  her  headlight  plain, 

And  we  gather  and  wait  her  coming — 
The  wonderful  north-bound  train. 

(Few,  forgotten  and  lonely, 

Where  the  white  car-windows  shine — 
No,  not  combatants — only 

Details  guarding  the  line.) 

Quick,  ere  the  gift  escape  us  ! 

Out  of  the  darkness  we  reach 
For  a  handful  of  week-old  papers 

And  a  mouthful  of  human  speech. 


/ 


Il6  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

And  the  monstrous  heaven  rejoices, 
And  the  earth  allows  again, 

Meetings,  greetings,  and  voices 
Of  women  talking  with  men. 

So  we  return  to  our  places, 
As  out  on  the  bridge  she  rolls ; 

And  the  darkness  covers  our  faces, 
And  the  darkness  re-enters  our  souls. 

More  than  a  little  lonel) 

Where  the  lessening  tail-lights  shine. 
No — not  combatants — only 

Details  guarding  the  line  I 


THE  LESSON 

(1899-1902) 

Let  us  admit  it  fairly,  as  a  business  people  should, 
We  have  had  no  end  of  a  lesson:  it  will  do  us  no 
end  of  good. 

Not  on  a  single  issue,  or  in  one  direction  or  twain, 
But  conclusively,  comprehensively,  and  several 

times  and  again, 
Were  all  our  most  holy  illusions  knocked  higher 

than  Gilderoy's  kite. 
We  have  had  a  jolly  good  lesson,  and  it  serves  us 

jolly  well  right ! 


This  was  not  bestowed  us  under  the  trees,  nor 

yet  in  the  shade  of  a  tent, 
But  swingingly,  over  eleven  degrees  of  a  bare 

brown  continent. 

O^jilght,  ItOl,  b/  RttdTud  Xlpllst 


Ii8  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

From   Lamberts    to   Delagoa   Bay,   and    from 

Pietersburg    to    Sutherland, 
Fell  the  phenomenal  lesson  we  learned — with  a 

fullness  accorded  no  other  land. 


It  was  our  fault,  and  our  very  great  fault,  and 

not  the  judgment  of  Heaven. 
We  made  an  Army  in  our  own  image,  on   an 

island  nine  by  seven, 
Which  faithfully   mirrored   its   makers'   ideals, 

equipment,  and  mental  attitude — 
And  so  we  got  our  lesson:  and  we  ought  to 

accept  it  with  gratitude. 


We  have  spent  two  hundred  million  pounds  to 

prove  the  fact  once  more. 
That  horses  are  quicker  than  men  afoot,  since 

two  and  two  make  four: 
And  horses  have  four  legs,  and  men  have  two 

legs,  and  two  into  four  goes  twice, 
And  nothing  over  except  our  lesson — and  very 

cheap  at  the  price. 


THE  LESSON  119 

For  remember  (this  our  children  shall  know: 

we  are  too  near  for  that  knowledge) 
Not  our  mere  astonied  camps,  but  Council  and 

Creed  and  College — 
All  the  obese,  unchallenged  old  things  that  stifle 

and  overlie  us — 
Have  felt  the  effects  of  the  lesson  we  got — an 

advantage  no  money  could  buy  us  ! 


Then  let  us  develop  this  marvellous  asset  which 

we  alone  command, 
And  which,  it  may  subsequently  transpire,  will 

be  worth  as  much  as  the  Rand : 
Let  us  approach  this  pivotal  fact  in  a  humble 

yet  hopeful  mood — 
We  have  had  no  end  of  a  lesson :  it  will  do  us  no 

end  of  good ! 


It  was  our  fault,  and  our  very  great  fault — and 

now  we  must  turn  it  to  use ; 
We  have  forty  million  reasons  for  failure,  but  not 

a  single  excuse ! 


I20  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

So  the  more  we  work  and  the  less  we  talk  the 

better  results  we  shall  get — 
We  have  had  an  Imperial  lesson;  it  may  make 

us  an  Empire  yet ! 


THE  FILES 

(the  sub-editor  gPEAKS) 

Files — 
The  Files- 
Office  Files ! 

Oblige  me  by  referring  to  the  files. 
Every  question  man  can  raise, 
Every  phrase  of  every  phase 
Of  that  question  is  on  record  in  the  files — 
(Threshed  out  threadbare — fought  and  finished 

in  the  files). 
Ere  the  Universe  at  large 
Was  our  new-tipped  arrows'  targe — 
Ere  we  rediscovered  Mammon  and  his  wiles — 
Faenza,    gentle    reader,    spent    her — five-and- 

twentieth  leader 
(You  will  find  him,  and  some  others,  in  the  files). 
Warn  all  future  Robert  Brownings  and  Carlyles, 
It  will  interest  them  to  hunt  among  the  files, 

I2X 


122  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Where  unvisited,  a-cold, 

Lie  the  crowded  years  of  old 

In  that  Kensall-Green  of  greatness  called  the 

files — 
(In  our  newspaP^re-la-Chaise  the  office  files), 
Where  the  dead  men  lay  them  down 
Meekly  sure  of  long  renown, 
And  above  them,  sere  and  swift. 
Packs  the  daily  deepening  drift 
Of  the  all-recording,  all-effacing  files—. 
The  obliterating,  automatic  files. 
Count  the  mighty  men  who  slung 
Ink,  Evangel,  Sword,  or  Tongue 
When  Reform  and  you  were  young — ■ 
Made  their  boasts  and  spake  according  in  the 

files — 
(Hear  the  ghosts  that  wake  applauding  in  the 

files !) 
Trace  each  all-forgot  career 
From  long  primer  through  brevier 
Unto  Death,  a  para  minion  in  the  files 
(Para  minion — solid — bottom  of  the  files)  .... 
Some  successful  Kings  and  Queens  adorn  the 

files, 


THE  FILES  123 

They  were  great,  their  views  were  leaded, 

And  their  deaths  were  triple-headed. 

So  they  catch  the  eye  in  running  through  the 

files 
(Show  as  blazes  in  the  mazes  of  the  files) ; 
For  their  "  paramours  and  priests," 
And  their  gross,  jack-booted  feasts. 
And  their  epoch -marking  actions  see  the  files. 
Was  it  Bomba  fled  the  blue  Sicilian  isles  ? 
Was  it  Safii  a  professor 
Once  of  Oxford,  brought  redress  or 
Garibaldi  ?     Who  remembers 
Forty-odd-year  old  Septembers  ? — 
Only  sextons  paid  to  dig  among  the  files 
(Such  as  I  am,  bom  and  bred  among  the  files). 
You  must  hack  through  much  deposit 
Ere  you  know  for  sure  who  was  it 
Came  to  burial  with  such  honour  in  the  files 
(Only  seven  seasons  back  beneath  the  files). 
"  Very  great  our  loss  and  grievous — 
"  So  our  best  and  brightest  leave  us, 
"And  it  ends  the  Age  of  Giants, "  say  the  files; 
All  the  '60 — '70 — '80 — '90  files 
(The  open-minded,  opportunist  files — 


124  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

The  easy  "  O  King,  live  for  ever"  files). 

It  is  good  to  read  a  little  in  the  files ; 

'Tis  a  sure  and  sovereign  balm 

Unto  philosophic  calm, 

Yea,  and  philosophic  doubt  when  Life  beguiles. 

When  you  know  Success  is  Greatness, 

When  you  marvel  at  your  lateness 

In  apprehending  facts  so  plain  to  Smiles 

(Self -helpful,  wholly  strenuous  Samuel  Smiles). 

When  your  Imp  of  Blind  Desire 

Bids  you  set  the  Thames  afire, 

You'll  remember  men  have  done  so — in  the  files. 

You'll  have  seen  those  flames  transpire — in  the 

files 
(More  than  once  that  flood  has  run  so — in  the 

files). 
When  the  Conchimarian  horns 
Of  the  reboantic  Norns 
Usher  gentlemen  and  ladies 
With  new  lights  on  Heaven  and  Hades, 
Guaranteeing  to  Eternity 
All  yesterday's  modernity; 
When  Brocken-spectres  made  by 
Some  one's  breath  on  ink  parade  by, 


THE  FILES  ia5 

Very  earnest  and  tremendous, 

Let  not  shows  of  shows  offend  us. 

When  of  everything  we  Hke  we 

Shout  ecstatic: — "Quod  uhique. 

Quod  ah  omnibus  means  semper  !" 

Oh,  my  brother,  keep  your  temper  ! 

Light  your  pipe  and  take  a  look  along  the  files ! 

You've  a  better  chance  to  guess 

At  the  meaning  of  Success 

(Which  is  Greatness — vide  press) 

When  you've  seen  it  in  perspective  in  the  files. 


THE  REFORMERS 

Not  in  the  camp  his  victory  lies 

Or  triumph  in  the  market-place. 
Who  is  his  Nation's  sacrifice 

To  turn  the  judgment  from  his  race. 

Happy  is  he  who,  bred  and  taught 
By  sleek,  sufficing  Circumstance — 

Whose  Gospel  was  the  apparelled  thought, 
Whose  Gods  were  Luxury  and  Chance — 

Sees,  on  the  threshold  of  his  days, 
The  old  life  shrivel  like  a  scroll, 

And  to  unheralded  dismays 
Submits  his  body  and  his  soul; 

The  fatted  shows  wherein  he  stood 

Foregoing,  and  the  idiot  pride. 
That  he  may  prove  with  his  own  blood 

All  that  his  easy  sires  denied — 

CopjTtiht,  ISOl,  l>j  Rudju4  Kipling 

126 


THE  REFORMERS  127 

Ultimate  issues,  primal  springs, 

Demands,    abasements,    penalties — 

The  imperishable  plinth  of  things 

Seen  and  unseen,  that  touch  our  peace. 

For,  though  ensnaring  ritual  dim 
His  vision  through  the  after-years, 

Yet  virtue  shall  go  out  of  him: 
Example  profiting  his  peers. 

With  great  things  charged  he  shall  not  hold 

Aloof  till  great  occasion  rise, 
But  serve,  full-harnessed,  as  of  old 

The  days  that  are  the  destinies. 

He  shall  forswear  and  put  away 

The  idols  of  his  sheltered  house; 
And  to  Necessity  shall  pay 

Unflinching  tribute  of  his  vows. 

He  shall  not  plead  another's  act, 

Nor  bind  him  in  another's  oath 
To  weigh  the  Word  above  the  Fact, 

Or  make  or  take  excuse  for  sloth. 


128  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

The  yoke  he  bore  shall  press  him  still, 
And  long-ingrained  effort  goad 

To  find,  to  fashion,  and  fulfil 

The  cleaner  life,  the  sterner  code. 

Not  in  the  camp  his  victory  lies — 
The  world  {unheeding  his  return) 

Shall  see  it  in  his  children's  eyes 

And  from  his  grandson's  lips  shall  learn ! 


DIRGE   OF   DEAD   SISTERS 

Who  recalls  the  twilight  and  the  ranged  tents 
in  order 
(Violet    peaks  uplifted    through    the    crystal 
evening  air?) 
And  the  clink  of  iron  teacups  and  the  piteous, 
noble  laughter, 
And  the  faces  of  the  Sisters  with  the  dust 
upon  their  hair? 


(Now  and  not  hereafter,  while  the  breath  is  in 
our  nostrils. 
Now  and  not  hereafter,  ere  the  meaner  years 
goby- 
Let  us  now  remember  many  honourable  women, 
Such  as  bade  us  turn  again  when  we  were  like 
to  die.) 

129 


I30  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Who    recalls    the    morning    and    the    thunder 
through  the  foothills 
(Tufts  of  fleecy  shrapnel  strung  along  the 
empty  plains  ? ) 
And  the  sun-scarred  Red-Cross  coaches  creeping 
guarded  to  the  culvert, 
And  the  faces  of  the  Sisters  looking  gravely 
from  the  trains  ? 


(When  the  days  were  torment  and  the  nights 
were  clouded  terror, 
When  the  Powers  of  Darkness  had  dominion 
on  our  soul 
When   we   fled   consuming  through  the   Seven 
Hells  of  fever, 
These  put  out  their  hands  to  us  and  healed 
and  made  us  whole.) 


Who    recalls    the    midnight    by    the    bridge's 
wrecked  abutment 
(Autumn  rain  that  rattled  like  a  Maxim  on 
the  tin?) 


DIRGE  OF  DEAD  SISTERS  131 

And     the     lightning-dazzled     levels     and    the 
streaming,  straining  wagons, 
And  the  faces  of  the  Sisters  as  they  bore  the 
wounded  in? 

(Till  the.  pain  was  merciful  and  stunned  us  into 
silence — 
When  each  nerve  cried  out  on  God  that  made 
the  misused  clay; 
When  the  Body  triumphed  and  the  last  poor 
shame  departed — 
These    abode    our    agonies    and   wiped    the 
sweat  away.) 

Who    recalls    the    noontide    and    the  funerals 

through  the    market 
(Blanket-hidden  bodies,  flagless,  followed  by 

the  flies  ?) 
And  the  footsore  firing-party,  and  the  dust  and 

stench  and  staleness, 
And  the  faces  of  the  Sisters  and  the  glory  in 

their  eyes  ? 
(Bold    behind    the    battle,  in    the    open  camp 

all-hallowed, 


13a  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Patient,  wise,  and  mirthful  in  the  ringed  and 

reeking  town, 
These  endured  unresting  till  they  rested  from 

their  labours — 
Little    wasted   bodies,  ah,  so  light  to  lower 

down ! ) 

Yet  their  graves  are  scattered  and  their  names 
are  clean  forgotten. 
Earth  shall  not  remember,  but  the  Waiting 
Angel  knows 
Them  that  died  at  Uitvlugt  when  the  plague 
was  on  the  city — 
Her  that  fell  at  Simon's  Town  in  service  on 
our  foes. 

Wherefore  we  they  ransomed,  while  the  breath  is 
in  our  nostrils, 
Now  and  not   hereafter,  ere  the  meatier  years 
go  by- 
Praise  with  love  and  worship  many  honourable 
women, 
Those  that  gave  their  lives  for  us  when  we  were 
like  to  die ! 


THE   ISLANDERS 

No  doubt  but  ye  are  the  People — your  throne  is 
above  the  King's. 

Whoso  speaks  in  your  presence  must  say  accept- 
able things: 

Bowing  the  head  in  worship,  bending  the  knee  in 
fear — 

Bringing  the  word  well  smoothen — such  as  a 
King  should  hear. 


Fenced  by  your  careful  fathers,  ringed  by  your 

leaden  seas, 
Long  did  ye  wake  in  quiet  and  long  lie  down  at 

ease; 
Till  ye  said    of  Strife,  "What  is  it?"  of    the 

Sword,  "  It  is  far  from  our  ken  " ; 
Till  ye  made  a  sport  of  your  shrunken  hosts  and 

a  toy  of  your  armed  men. 


134  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Ye  stopped  your  ears  to  the  warning — ye  would 

neither  look  nor  heed — 
Ye  set  your  leisure  before  their  toil  and  your 

lusts  above  their  need. 
Because  of  your  witless  learning  and  your  beasts 

of  warren  and  chase, 
Ye  grudged  your  sons  to  their  service  and  your 

fields  for  their  camping-place. 
Ye  forced  them  glean  in  the  highways  the  straw 

for  the  bricks  they  brought ; 
Ye  forced  them  follow  in  byways  the  craft  that 

ye  never  taught. 
Ye  hindered  and  hampered  and  crippled;  ye 

thrust  out  of  sight  and  away 
Those  that  would  serve  you  for  honour  and  those 

that  served  you  for  pay. 
Then  were  the  judgments  loosened;  then  was 

your  shame  revealed, 
At  the  hands  of  a  little  people,  few  but  apt  in  the 

field. 
Yet  ye  were  saved  by  a  remnant  (and  your 

land's  long-suffering  Star), 
When  your  strong  men  cheered  in  their  millions 

while  your  striplings  went  to  the  war. 


THE  ISLANDERS  135 

Sons  of  the  sheltered  city — ^unmade,  unhandled, 

unmeet — 
Ye  pushed  them  raw  to  the  battle  as  ye  picked 

them  raw  from  the  street. 
And  what  did  ye  look  they  should  compass? 

Warcraft  learned  in  a  breath, 
Knowledge  unto  occasion  at  the  first  far  view 

•    of  Death? 
So !     And  ye  train  your  horses  and  the  dogs  ye 

feed  and  prize? 
How  are  the  beasts  more  worthy  than  the  souls 

your  sacrifice? 
But  ye  said,   "  Their  valour  shall  show  them  " ; 

but  ye  said,  *  *  The  end  is  close. ' ' 
And  ye  sent  them  comfits  and  pictures  to  help 

them  harry  your  foes. 
And  ye  vaunted  your  fathomless  power,  and  ye 

flaunted  your  iron  pride. 
Ere — ye  fawned    on   the  Younger  Nations  for 

the  men  who  could  shoot  and  ride ! 
Then  ye  returned  to  your  trinkets;  then   ye 

contented  your  souls 
With  the  flannelled  fools  at  the  wicket  or  the 

muddied  oafs  at  the  goals. 


136  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Given  to  strong  delusion,  wholly  believing  a  lie, 
Ye  saw  that  the  land  lay  fenceless,  and  ye  let  the 

months  go  by 
Waiting  some  easy  wonder:  hoping  some  saving 

sign- 
Idle — openly  idle — in  the  lee  of  the  forespent 

Line. 
Idle — except   for  your  boasting — and  what   is 

your  boasting  worth 
If  ye  grudge  a  year  of  service  to  the  lordliest  life 

on  earth? 
Ancient,  effortless,  ordered,  cycle  on  cycle  set, 
Life  so  long  untroubled,  that  ye  who  inherit 

forget 
It  was  not  made  with  the  mountains,  it  is  not 

one  with  the  deep. 
Men,    not    gods,    devised    it.     Men,    not    gods, 

must    keep. 
Men,  not  children,  servants,  or  kinsfolk  called 

from  afar, 
But  each  man  bom  in  the  Island  broke  to  the 

matter  of  war. 
Soberly  and  by  custom  taken  and  trained  for 

the  same ; 


THE  ISLANDERS  137 

Each  man  bom  in  the  Island  entered  at  youth 

to  the  game — 
As  it  were  almost  cricket,  not  to  be  mastered 

in  haste, 
But  after  trial  and  labour,  by  temperance,  living 

chaste. 
As  it  were  almost  cricket — as  it  were  even  your 

play, 
Weighed   and   pondered   and    worshipped,  and 

practised  day  and  day. 
So  ye  shall  bide  sure-guarded  when  the  restless 

lightnings  wake 
In  the  womb  of  the  blotting  war-cloud,  and  the 

pallid  nations  quake. 
So,  at  the  haggard  trumpets,  instant  your  soul 

shall  leap 
Forthright,     accoutred,     accepting — alert  from 

the  wells  of  sleep. 
So  at  the  threat  ye  shall  summon — so  at  the 

need  ye  shall  send 
Men,  not  children  or  servants,  tempered  and 

taught  to  the  end ; 
Cleansed    of    servile   panic,    slow    to  dread   or 

despise, 


138  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Humble    because    of    knowledge,    mighty    by 

sacrifice. 
But  ye  say,  "It  will   mar   our  comfort."     Ye 

say,  "  It  will  minish  our  trade. " 
Do  ye  wait  for  the  spattered  shrapnel  ere  ye 

learn  how  a  gun  is  laid  ? 
For  the  low,  red  glare  to  southward  when  the 

raided  coast-towns  burn  ? 
(Light  ye  shall  have  on  that  lesson,  but  little 

time  to  learn.) 
Will  ye  pitch  some  white  pavilion,  and  lustily 

even  the  odds, 
With  nets  and  hoops  and  mallets,  with  rackets 

and  bats  and  rods  ? 
Will  the  rabbit  war  with  your  foemen — the  red 

deer  horn  them  for  hire  ? 
Your    kept    cock-pheasant    keep   you? — he    is 

master  of  many  a  shire. 
Arid,  aloof,  incurious,  unthinking,  unthanking, 

gelt, 
Will  ye  loose  your  schools  to  flout  them  till 

their  browbeat  columns  melt  ? 
Will  ye  pray  them  or  preach  them,  or  print  them, 

or  ballot  them  back  from  your  shore .'' 


THE  ISLANDERS  139 

Will  your  workmen  issue  a  mandate  to  bid  them 

strike  no  more  ? 
Will  ye  rise  and  dethrone  your  rulers  ?     (Because 

ye  were  idle  both? 
Pride     by     insolence      chastened?     Indolence 

purged  by  sloth  ?) 
No  doubt  but  ye  are  the  People ;  who  shall  make 

you  afraid  ? 
Also  your  gods  are  many;  no  doubt  but  your 

gods  shall  aid. 
Idols  of  greasy  altars  built  for  the  body's  ease; 
Proud  little  brazen  Baals  and  talking  fetishes; 
Teraphs   of   sept   and   party   and   wise   wood- 
pavement  gods — 
These  shall  come  down  to  the  battle  and  snatch 

you  from  under  the  rods  ? 
From  the  gusty,  flickering  gun-roll  with  viewless 

salvoes  rent, 
And  the  pitted  hail  of  the  bullets  that  tell  not 

whence  they  were  sent. 
When  ye  are  ringed  as  with  iron,  when  ye  are 

scourged  as  with  whips, 
When  the  meat  is  yet  in  your  belly,  and  the 

boast  is  yet  on  your  lips ; 


I40  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

When  ye  go  forth  at  morning  and  the  noon 

beholds  you  broke, 
Ere  ye  lie  down  at  even,  your  remnant,  under 

the  yoke. 

No  doubt  but  ye  are  the  People — absolute,  strong, 

and  wise; 
Whatever  your    heart    has  desired  ye    have  not 

withheld  from  your  eyes. 
On  your  own  heads,  in  your  own  hands,  the  sin 

and  the  saving  lies ! 


THE  PEACE  OF  DIVES 

The   Word  came   down  to  Dives  in  Torment 

where  he  lay : 
"Our  World  is  full  of  wickedness,  My  Children 
maim  and  slay, 
"And  the  Saint  and  Seer  and  Prophet 
"  Can  make  no  better  of  it 
"Than  to  sanctify  and  prophesy  and  pray. 


"  Rise  up,  rise  up,  thou  Dives,  and  take  again 

thy  gold, 
"And  thy  women  and  thy  housen  as  they  were 
to  thee  of  old. 
"  It  may  be  grace  hath  found  thee 
"In  the  furnace  where  We  bound  thee, 
"And  that  thou  shalt  bring  the  peace  My  Son 
foretold. " 

141 


142  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Then  merrily  rose  Dives  and  leaped  from  out 

his  fire, 
And  walked  abroad  with  diligence  to  do  the 
Lord's  desire; 
And  anon  the  battles  ceased, 
And  the  captives  were  released, 
And  Earth  had  rest  from  Goshen  to  Gadire. 


The  Word  came  down  to  Satan  that  raged  and 

roared  alone, 
'Mid  the  shouting  of  the  peoples  by  the  cannon 
overthrown 
(But  the  Prophets,  Saints,  and  Seers 
Set  each  other  by  the  ears, 
For  each  would  claim  the  marvel  as  his  own) : 


"Rise  up,  rise  up,  thou  Satan,  upon  the  Earth 

to  go, 
' '  And  prove  the  peace  of  Dives  if  it  be  good  or  no : 

"For  all  that  he  hath  planned 

"We  deliver  to  thy  hand, 
"As  thy  skill  shall  serve  to  break  it  or  bring  low." 


THE  PEACE  OF  DIVES  143 

Then    mightily    rose     Satan,  and     about    the 

Earth  he  hied, 
And  breathed  on  Kings  in  idleness  and  Princes 
drunk  with  pride; 
But  for  all  the  wrong  he  breathed 
There  was  never  sword  unsheathed. 
And  the  fires  he  lighted  flickered  out  and  died. 


Then  terribly  rose  Satan,  and  he  darkened  Earth 

afar, 
Till  he  came  on  cunning  Dives  where  the  money- 
changers are; 
And  he  saw  men  pledge  their  gear 
For  the  gold  that  buys  the  spear, 
And  the  helmet  and  the  habergeon  of  war. 

Yea  to  Dives  came  the  Persian  and  the  Syrian 

and  the  Mede — 
And  their  hearts  were  nothing  altered,  nor  their 
cunning  nor  their  greed — 
And  they  pledged  their  flocks  and  farms 
For  the  king-compelling  arms. 
And  Dives  lent  according  to  their  need. 


144  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Then   Satan    said    to   Dives: — "Return    again 

with  me, 
"Who  hast  bK)ken  His  Commandment  in  the 
day  He  set  thee  free, 
""Who  grindest  for  thy  greed, 
"Man's  belly-pinch  and  need; 
"And  the  blood  of  Man  to  filthy  usury  I" 

Then  softly  answered  Dives  where  the  money- 
changers sit: — 
"My  refuge  is  Our  Master,  O  My  Master  in  the 
Pit; 
"  But  behold  all  Earth  is  laid 
"  In  the  peace  which  I  have  made, 
"And  behold  I  wait  on  thee  to  trouble  it ! " 

Then  angrily  turned  Satan,  and  about  the  Seas 

he  fled, 
To  shake   the   new-sown   peoples   with  insult, 
doubt,  and  dread; 
But  for  all  the  sleight  he  used 
There  was  never  squadron  loosed, 
And  the  brands  he  flung  flew  dying  and  fell  dead. 


THE  PEACE  OF  DIVES  145 

Yet  to  Dives  came  Atlantis  and  the  Captains  of 

the  West— 
And  their  hates  were  nothing  weakened  nor  their 
anger  nor  unrest — 
And  they  pawned  their  utmost  trade 
For  the  dry,  decreeing  blade; 
And  Dives  lent  and  took  of  them  their  best. 

Then  Satan  said  to  Dives: — "Declare  thou  by 

The  Name, 
"The  secret  of  thy  subtlety  that  tumeth  mine 
to  shame. 
"  It  is  known  through  all  the  Hells 
"How  my  peoples  mocked  my  spells, 
And  my  faithless  Kings  denied  me  ere  I  came." 

Then  answered  cunning  Dives:     "Do  not  gold 

and  hate  abide 
**  At  the  heart  of  every  Magic,  yea,  and  senseless 
fear  beside  ? 
"  With  gold  and  fear  and  hate 
"  I  have  harnessed  state  to  state, 
**  And  with  hate  and  fear  and  gold  their  hates 
are  tied. 


146  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

"For  hate  men  seek  a  weapon,   for  fear  they 

seek  a  shield — 
"Keener  blades  and  broader  targes  than  their 
frantic  neighbours  wield — 
"  For  gold  I  arm  their  hands, 
"  And  for  gold  I  buy  their  lands, 
"And  for  gold  I  sell  their  enemies  the  yield. 

"Their  nearest    foes   may  purchase,    or   thei> 

furthest  friends  may  lease, 
"  One  by  one  from  Ancient  Accad  to  the  Islands 
of  the  Seas. 
"And  their  covenants  they  make 
"For  the  naked  iron's  sake, 
"  But  I — I  trap  them  armoured  into  peace. 

"The  flocks  that  Egypt  pledged  me  to  Assyria  I 

drave, 
"And  Pharaoh  hath  the  increase  of  the  herd* 
that  Sargon  gave. 
"Not  for  Ashdod  overthrown 
"  Will  the  Kings  destroy  their  own, 
"Or  their  peoples  wake  the  strife  they  feign  to 
brave. 


THE  PEACE  OF  DIVES  147 

"Is  not  Calno  like  Carchemish?     For  the  steeds 

of  their  desire 
"They  have  sold  me  seven  harvests  that  I  sell 
to  Crowning  Tyre; 
"  And  the  Tyrian  sweeps  the  plains 
"With  a  thousand  hired  wains, 
"And  the  Cities  keep  the  peace  and — share  the 
hire. 

"Hast  thou  seen  the  pride  of  Moab?     For  the 

swords  about  his  path, 
"  His  bond  is  to  Philistia,  in  half  of  all  he  hath; 

"  And  he  dare  not  draw  the  sword 

"Till  Gaza  give  the  word, 
"And  he  show  release  from  Askalon  and  Gath. 

''Wilt  thou  call  again  thy  peoples,  wilt  thou 

craze  anew  thy  Kings? 
"Lo!  my  lightnings  pass  before  thee,  and  their 
whistling  servant  brings, 
"  Ere  the  drowsy  street  hath  stirred — 
"Every  masked  and  midnight  word, 
"And  the  nations  break  their  fast  upon  these 
things. 


148  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

"So  I  make  a  jest  of  Wonder,  and  a  mock  of 

Time  and  Space, 
"The  roofless  Seas  an  hostel,  and  the  Earth  a 
market-place, 
"Where  the  anxious  traders  know 
"Each  is  surety  for  his  foe, 
"And   none   may  thrive   without   his   fellows' 
grace. 

"  Now  this  is  all  my  subtlety  and  this  is  all  my 

wit, 
"God  give  thee  good  enlightenment,  My  Master 
in  the  Pit. 
"But  behold  all  Earth  is  laid 
"  In  the  peace  which  I  have  made, 
"  And  behold  I  wait  on  thee  to  trouble  it ! " 


SOUTH  AFRICA 

Lived  a  woman  wonderful, 

(May  the  I  ord  amend  her  !) 
Neither  simple,  kind,  nor  true. 
But  her  Pagan  beauty  drew 
Christian  gentlemen  a  few 
Hotly  to  attend  her. 


Christian  gentlemen  a  jew 
From  Berwick  unto  Dover; 

For  she  was  South  Africa^ 

And  she  was  South  Africa, 

She  was  our  South  Africa, 
Africa  all  over! 

Half  her  land  was  dead  with  drouth, 

Half  was  red  with  battle ; 
She  was  fenced  with  fire  and  sword, 
149 


150  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Plague  on  pestilence  outpoured, 

Locusts  on  the  greening  sward 

And  murrain  on  the  cattle  ! 

True,  ah  true,  and  over  true; 

That  is  why  we  love  her! 
For  she  is  South  Africa, 
And  she  is  South  Africa^ 
She  is  our  South  Africa, 

Africa  all  over! 

Bitter  hard  her  lovers  toiled, 
Scandalous  their  payment, — 

Food  forgot  on  trains  derailed; 

Cattle-dung  where  fuel  failed; 

Water  where  the  mules  had  staled; 
And  sackcloth  for  their  raiment ! 

So  she  filled  their  mouths  with  dust 
And  their  bones  with  fever; 

Greeted  them  with  cruel  lies; 

Treated  them  despiteful-wise; 

Meted  them  calamities 
Till  they  vowed  to  leave  her. 


SOUTH  AFRICA  15X 

They  took  ship  and  they  took  sail, 

Raging,  from  her  borders, — 
In  a  little,  none  the  less. 
They  forgat  their  sore  duresse. 
They  forgave  her  waywardness 

And  returned  for  orders ! 


They  esteemed  her  favour  more 

Than  a  Throne's  foundation. 
For  the  glory  of  her  face 
Bade  farewell  to  breed  and  race — 
Yea,  and  made  their  burial-place 
Altar  of  a  Nation ! 

Wherefore,  being  bought  by  blood 

And  by  blood  restored 
To  the  arms  that  nearly  lost, 
She,  because  of  all  she  cost, 
Stands,  a  very  woman,  most 

Perfect  and  adored ! 

On  your  feet,  and  let  them  know 
This  is  why  we  love  her ! 


t52  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

For  she  is  South  Africa, 
She  is  our  South  Africa, 
Is  our  own  South  Africa, 
Africa  all  over  I 


THE  SETTLER 

Here,  where  my  fresh-turned  furrows  run, 

And  the  deep  soil  glistens  red, 
I  will  repair  the  wrong  that  was  done 

To  the  living  and  the  dead. 
Here,  where  the  senseless  bullet  fell, 

And  the  barren  shrapnel  burst, 
I  will  plant  a  tree,  I  will  dig  a  well. 

Against  the  heat  and  the  thirst. 


Here,  in  a  large  and  a  sunlit  land, 

Where  no  wrong  bites  to  the  bone, 
I  will  lay  my  hand  in  my  neighbour's  hand, 

And  together  we  will  atone 
For  the  set  folly  and  the  red  breach 

And  the  black  waste  of  it  all. 
Giving  and  taking  counsel  each 

Over  the  cattle-kraal. 

Oq^jilfht,  1803,  bj  Bodjud  KlpUn; 


154  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Here  will  we  join  against  our  foes — 

The  hailstroke  and  the  stonn, 
And  the  red  and  rustling  cloud  that  blows 

The  locust's  mile-deep  swarm; 
Frost  and  murrain  and  floods  let  loose 

Shall  launch  us  side  by  side 
In  the  holy  wars  that  have  no  truce 

'Twixt  seed  and  harvest  tide. 


Earth,  where  we  rode  to  slay  or  be  slain, 

Our  love  shall  redeem  unto  life ; 
We  will  gather  and  lead  to  her  lips  again 

The  waters  of  ancient  strife, 
From  the  far  and  fiercely  guarded  streams 

And  the  pools  where  we  lay  in  wait, 
Till  the  corn  cover  our  evil  dreams 

And  the  youjtig  corn  our  hate. 


And  when  we  bring  old  fights  to  mind, 
We  will  not  remember  the  sin — 

If  there  be  blood  on  his  head  of  my  kind, 
Or  blood  on  my  head  of  his  kin — 


THE  SETTLER  155 

For  the  ungrazed  upland,  the  untilled  lea 

Cry,  and  the  fields  forlorn: 
"The  dead  mtist  bury  their  dead,  but  y« — 

Ye  serve  an  host  unborn." 


Bless  then,  our  God,  the  new-yoked  plough 

And  the  good  beasts  that  draw, 
And  the  bread  we  eat  in  the  sweat  of  our  brow 

According  to  Thy  Law. 
After  us  cometh  a  multitude — 

Prosper  the  work  of  our  hands, 
That  we  may  feed  with  our  land's  food 

The  folk  of  all  our  lands ! 


Here,  in  the  waves  and  the  troughs  of  the  plains, 

Where  the  healing  stillness  lies, 
And  the  vast,  benignant  sky  restrains 

And  the  long  days  make  wise — 
Bless  to  our  use  the  rain  and  the  sun 

And  the  blind  seed  in  its  bed, 
That  we  may  repair  the  wrong  that  was  done 

To  the  living  and  the  dead ! 


SERVICE  SONGS 


"  Tommy"  you  was  when  it  began, 

But  now  that  it  is  o'er 
You  shall  be  called  The  Service  Man 

'Enceforward,  evermore. 

Batfry,  brigade,  flank,  centre,  van. 

Defaulter,  Army  corps — 
From  first  to  last  The  Service  Alan 

'Enceforward,  evermore. 

From  'Alifax  to  'Industan, 
From  York  to  Singapore — 

'Orse,  foot,  an'  guns,  The  Service  Man 
'Enceforward,  evermore ! 


CHANT— PAGAN 

ENGLISH   irregular:   '99-02 

Me  that  'ave  been  what  I've  been, 
Me  that  'ave  gone  where  I've  gone, 
Me  that  'ave  seen  what  I've  seen — 

'Ow  can  I  ever  take  on 
With  awful  old  England  again, 
An*  'ouses  both  sides  of  the  street, 
And  'edges  two  sides  of  the  lane, 
And  the  parson  an'  "gentry"  between. 
An'  touchin'  my  'at  when  we  meet — 

Me  that  'ave  been  what  I've  been? 

Me  that  'ave  watched  'arf  a  world 
'Eave  up  all  shiny  with  dew. 
Kopje  on  kop  to  the  sun. 
An'  as  soon  as  the  mist  let  'em  through 
Our  'elios  winkin'  like  fun — 
Three  sides  of  a  ninety-mile  square, 
IS9 


l6o  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Over  valleys  as  big  as  a  shire — 
Are  ye  there  ?    Are  ye  there  ?    Are  ye  there  f 
An'  then  the  blind  drum  of  otir  fire     .     .     . 
An'  I'm  rollin'  'is  lawns  for  the  Squire, 

Me! 

Me  that  'ave  rode  through  the  dark 
Forty  mile  often  on  end, 
Along  the  Ma'ollisberg  Range, 
With  only  the  stars  for  my  mark 
An'  only  the  night  for  my  friend. 
An'  things  runnin'  off  as  you  pass, 
An'  things  jumpin'  up  in  the  grass. 
An'  the  silence,  the  shine  an'  the  size 
Of  the  'igh,  inexpressible  skies.     .     .     . 
I  am  takin'  some  letters  almost 
As  much  as  a  mile,  to  the  post, 
An'  "mind  you  come  back  with  the  change !" 

Me! 

Me  that  saw  Barberton  took 

When  we  dropped  through  the  clouds  on  their 

'ead, 
An'  they  'ove  the  gims  over  an'  fled — 


CHANT— PAGAN  i6l 

Me  that  was  through  Di'mond  '111, 
An'  Pieters  an'  Springs  an'  Belfast — 
From  Dundee  to  Vereeniging  all! 
Me  that  stuck  out  to  the  last 
(An'  five  bloomin'  bars  on  my  chest) — 
I  am  doin'  my  Sunday-school  best, 
By  the  'elp  of  the  Squire  an'  'is  wife 
(Not  to  mention  the  'ousemaid  an'  cook), 
To  come  in  an*  'ands  up  an'  be  still. 
An'  honestly  work  for  my  bread, 
My  livin'  in  that  state  of  life 
To  which  it  shall  please  God  to  call 

Mel 

I\Ie  that  'ave  followed  my  trade 

In  the  place  where  the  lightnin's  are  made, 

'Twixt  the  Rains  and  the  Sun  and  the  Moon; 

Me  that  lay  down  an'  got  up 

Three  years  an'  the  sky  for  my  roof — 

That  'ave  ridden  my  'unger  an'  thirst 

Six  thousand  raw  mile  on  the  'oof. 

With  the  Vaal  and  the  Orange  for  cup, 

An'  the  Brandwater  Basin  for  dish, — 

Oh !  it's  'ard  to  be'ave  as  they  wish. 


l62  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

(Too  *ard,  an'  a  little  too  soon), 
I'll  'ave  to  think  over  it  first — 


Me! 


I  will  arise  an'  get  'ence; — 

I  will  trek  South  and  make  sure 

If  it's  only  my  fancy  or  not 

That  the  stmshine  of  England  is  pale, 

And  the  breezes  of  England  are  stale, 

An'  there's  somethin'  gone  small  with  the  lot; 

For  /  know  of  a  sun  an'  a  wind. 

An'  some  plains  and  a  mountain  be'ind. 

An'  some  graves  by  a  barb-wire  fence ; 

An*  a  Dutchman  I've  fought  'oo  might  give 

Me  a  job  were  I  ever  inclined, 

To  look  in  an'  offsaddle  an'  live 

Where  there's  neither  a  road  nor  a  tree — 

But  only  my  Maker  an'  me, 

An'   I  think  it  will  kill  me  or  cure, 

So  I  think  I  will  go  there  an'  see. 


M.  I. 

(mounted  infantry  of  the  line) 

I  WISH  my  mother  cotild  see  me  now,  with  a 

fence-post  under  my  arm, 
And  a  knife  and  a  spoon  in  my  putties  that 

I  found  on  a  Boer  farm, 
Atop  of  a  sore-backed  Argentine,  with  a  thirst 
that  you  couldn't  buy. 
I  used  to  be  in  the  Yorkshires  once 
(Sussex,   Lincolns,  and  Rifles  once), 
Hampshires,    Glosters,   and    Scottish    once ! 
(ad  lib.) 

But  now  I  am  M.  I. 


That  is  what  we  are  known  as — that  is  the 

name  you  must  call 
If    you    want    officers'    servants,  pickets   an' 

'orse-guards  an'  all — 

Oopjilghi,  1«0I,  b7  Rttdfud  KlpUng 

163 


1 64  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Details  for  buryin'-parties,  company -cooks  or 

supply — 
Turn    out    the    chronic    Ikonas !     Roll  up  the 

*M.  I.! 

My    'ands    are    spotty    with    veldt-sores,    my 

shirt  is  a  button  an'  frill, 
An'    the    things     I've    used    my   bay'nit   for 

would  make  a  tinker  ill ! 
An'  I  don't  know  whose  dam'  column  I'm  in, 
nor  where  we're  trekkin'  nor  why. 
I've  trekked  from  the  Vaal  to  the  Orange 

once — 
From  the  Vaal  to  the  greasy  Pongolo  once — 
(Or  else  it  was  called  the  Zambesi  once) — 
For  now  I  am  M.  I. 

That  is   what  we  are  known  as — we  are  the 

push  you  require 
For    outposts     all   night    under    freezin',    an' 

rear-guard  all  day  under  fire. 
Anything     'ot     or     unwholesome?      Anything 

dusty  or  dry? 
Borrow    a    bunch    of    Ikonas !     Trot  out  the 

M.  I.! 

*  Number  according  to  taste  and  service  of  audience. 


M.  I.  165 

Our   Sergeant-Major's    a    subaltern,    our    Cap- 
tain's a  Fusilier — 
Our    Adjutant's    "late  of  Somebody's    'Orse," 

an'  a  Melbourne  auctioneer; 
But  you  couldn't  spot  us  at  'arf  a  mile  from 
the  crackest  caval-ry. 
They  used  to  talk  about  Lancers  once. 
Hussars,  Dragoons,  an'  Lancers  once, 
'Elmets,  pistols,  an'  carbines  once. 

But  now  we  are  M.  I. 

That  is  what  we  are  known  as — we    are    the 

orphans  they  blame 
For    beggin'    the    loan   of   an    'ead-stall    an' 

makin'  a  mount  to  the  same: 
'Can't  even  look  at  an  'orselines  but  some  one 

goes  bellerin'  "Hi! 
"  'Ere    comes   a    burglin'    Ikona !"     Footsack 

you  M.  I. ! 

We're   trekkin'   our  twenty  miles   a   day   an' 

bein'  loved  by  the  Dutch, 
But  we  don't  hold  on  by  the  mane  no  more, 

nor  lose  our  stirrups — much; 


i66  THE  FIVE  Nations 

An*   we   scout   with   a   senior   man   in   charge 
where  the  'oly  white  flags  fly. 
We  used  to  think  they  were  friendly  once, 
Didn't  take  any  precautions  once 
(Once,  my  ducky,  an'  only  once  !) 

But  now  we  are   M.   I. 

That  is  what  we  are  known  as — we  are  the  beg- 
gars that  got 

Three  days  "to  learn  equitation,"  an'  six; 
months  o'  bloomin'  well  trot ! 

Cow-guns,  an'  cattle,  an'  convoys — an'  Mister 
De  Wet  on  the  fly — 

We  are  the  rollin'  Ikonas !  We  are  the 
M.  I. ! 

The     new    fat    regiments    come    from   home, 

imaginin'  vain  V.  C.'s 
(The    same    as    our    talky-fighty  men  which 

are  often  Number  Threes*), 
But    our    words    o'    command    are  "Scatter" 

an'  "Close"  an'  "Let  your  wounded  lie." 

♦  Horse-holders  when  in  action,  and  therefore  gener- 
ally under  cover. 


M.  I.  167 

"We  used  to  rescue  'em  noble  once, — 
Givin'  the  range  as  we  raised  'em  once, 
Gettin'  'em  killed  as  we  saved  'em  once — 
But  now  we  are  M.   I. 

That  is  what  we  are  known  as — we  are  the 

lanterns  you  view 
After    a    fight    round  the    kopjes,  lookin'  for 

men  that  we  knew; 
Whistlin'  an'  callin'   together,   'altin'  to  catch 

the  reply: — 
"  'Elp  me  !     O  'elp    me,  Ikonas  !"     This  way, 

the  M.   I.! 

I  wish  my  mother  could  see  me  now,  a-gatherin' 

news  on  my  own, 
When    I   ride  like  a  General  up    to  the   scrub 

and  ride  back  like  Tod  Sloan, 
Remarkable  close  to  my  'orse's  neck  to  let  the 
shots  go  by. 
We  used  to  fancy  it  risky  once 
(Called  it  a  reconnaissance  once), 
Under  the  charge  of  an  orf'cer  once. 

But  now  we   are   M.   I. 


i68  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

That  is  what  we  are  known  as — that  is  the 

song  you  must  say 
When  you  want  men  to  be   Mausered  at  one 

and  a  penny  a  day ; 
We  are  no  five-bob  colonials — ^we  are  the  'ome- 

made  supply, 
Ask    for    the    London  Ikonas !     Ring   up   the 

M.  I.! 

I  wish  myself  could  talk  to  myself  as  I  left  'im 

a  year  ago ; 
I  could   tell  'im  a   lot   that  would   save  'im  a 

lot  on  the  things  that  'e  ought  to  know ! 
When  I  think  o'  that  ignorant  barrack-bird,  it 
almost  makes  me  cry. 
I  used  to  belong  in  an  Army  once 
(Gawd  !  what  a  rum  little  Army  once), 
Red  little,  dead  little  Army  once  ! 

But   now   I   am   M.   I. ! 

That  is  what  we  are  known  as — ^we  are  the 

men  that  have  been 
Over  a    year  at    the    business,  smelt    it    an* 

felt  it  an'  seen. 


M.  I.  169 

We  'ave  got  'old  of  the  needful — you  will  be 

told  by  and  bye; 
Wait   till   you've    'eard   the  Ikonas,  spoke   to 

the  old  M.  I. ! 

Mount — march,  Ikonas  I    Stand  to  your  'orses 

again  ! 
Mop  off   the   frost   on   the  saddles,  mop   up  the 

miles  on  the  plain. 
Out  go  the  stars  in   the  dawnin',   up  goes  our 

dust  to  the  sky. 
Walk — trot,  Ikonas  !     Trek  jou,*  the  old  M.  I.  ! 
*  Get  ahead. 


COLUMNS 
(mobile  columns  of  the  later  war) 

Out  o'  the  wilderness,  dusty  an'  dry 

(Time,  an'  'igh  time  to  be  trekkin'  again!) 

'Oo  is  it  'eads  to  the  Detail  Supply? 

(A  section,  a  pompom,  an'  six  'undred  men). 

'Ere  comes  the  clerk  with  'is  lantern  an'  keys 
{Time,  an'  'igh  time  to  be  trekkin'  again!) 

"Surplus  of  everything — draw  what  you  please 
"For  the  section,  the  pompom,  an'  six  'undred 
men." 

"What  are  our  orders  an'  where  do  we  lay?" 

(Time,  an'  'igh  time  to  be  trekkin'  again!) 
"You  came  after  dark — you  will  leave  before 
day, 
"  You  section,  you  pompom,  an'  six  'undred 
men!" 

Down  the  tin  street,  *alf  awake  an'  unfed, 
'Ark  to  'em  blessin'  the  Gen'ral  in  bed  ! 
170 


Columns  171 

Now  by  the  church  an'  the  outspan  they  wind — 
Over  the  ridge  an'  it's  all  lef  be'ind 
For  the  section,  etc. 

Soon  they  will  camp  as  the  dawn  's  growin'  grey, 
Roll  up  for  coffee  an'  sleep  while  they  may — 
The  section,  etc. 

Read  their  *ome  letters,  their  papers  an'  such, 
For  they'll  move   after  dark  to   astonish  the 
Dutch 
With  a  section,  etc. 

'Untin'  for  shade  as  the  long  hours  pass, 
Blankets  on  rifles  or  burrows  in  grass, 
Lies  the  section,  etc. 

Dossin'  or  beatin'  a  shirt  in  the  sun, 
Watching  chameleons  or  cleanin'  a  gun, 
Waits  the  section,  etc. 

With  nothin'  but  stillness  as  far  as  you  please. 
An*  the  silly  mirage  stringin'  islands  an'  seas 
Round  the  section,  etc. 


172  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

So  they  strips  off  their  hide  an'  they  grills  in 

their  bones, 
Till  the  shadows  crawl  out  from  beneath  the 

pore  stones 
Towards  the  section,  etc. 

An'  the  Mauser-bird  stops  an'  the  jackals  begin, 
An'  the  'orse-guard  comes  up  and  the  Gunners 
'ook  in 

As  a  'int  to  the  pompom  an'  six  'undred  men.  .  . 

Off  through  the  dark  with  the  stars  to  rely  on — 
(Alpha  Centauri  an'  somethin'  Orion) 
Moves  the  section,  etc. 

Same  bloomin'  'ole  which  the  ant-bear  'as  broke, 
Same  bloomin'  stumble  an'  same  bloomin'  joke 
Down  the  section,  etc. 

Same  "which  is  right?"  where  the  cart-tracks 

divide, 
Same  "give  it  up"  from  the  same  clever  guide 
To  the  section,  etc. 


COLUMNS  173 

Same  tumble-^own  on  the  same  'idden  farm, 
Same  white-eyed  Kaffir  '00  gives  the  alarm 
Of  the  section,  etc. 

Same  shootin'  wild  at  the  end  o'  the  night, 
Same  flyin'  tackle  an'  same  messy  fight 
By  the  section,  etc. 

Same  ugly  'iccup  an'  same  'orrid  squeal, 
When  it's  too  dark  to  see  an'  it's  too  late  to  feel 
In  the  section,  etc. 

(Same  batch  of  prisoners,  'airy  an'  still, 
Watchin'  their  comrades  bolt  over  the  'ill 
From  the  section,  etc.) 

Same  chilly  glare  in  the  eye  of  the  sun 
As  'e  gets  up  displeasured  to  see  what  was  done 
,  By  the  section,  etc. 

Same  splash  o'  pink  on  the  stoep  or  the  kraal. 
An'   the  same   quiet   face   which    'as   finished 
with  all 
In  the  section,  the  pompom,  an'    six  'undred 
men. 


174  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Out  o'  the  wilderness,  dusty  an'  dry 

(Time,  an'  Hgh  time  to  be  trekkin'  again !) 

'Oo  is  it  'eads  to  the  Detail  Supply  ? 

(A  section,  a  pompom,  an'  six  'undred  men) 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  COLUMNS 

"    .     .     .     On  the — th  instant  a  mixed  detachment 

of  colonials  left for  Cape  Town,  there  to  rejoin 

their  respective  homeward-bound  contingents,  after 
fifteen  months'  service  in  the  field.  They  were  escorted 
to  the  station  by  the  regular  troops  in  garrison  and  the 

bulk  of  Colonel 's  column,  which  has  just  come  in 

to  refit,  preparatory  to  further  operations.  The  leave- 
taking  was  of  the  most  cordial  character,  the  men 
cheering  each  other  continuously." — Any  Newspaper. 

We've  rode  and  fought  and  ate  and  drunk  as 

rations  come  to  hand, 
Together   for   a   year   and   more    around   this 

stinkin'  land: 
Now  you  are  goin'  home  again,  but  we  must 

see  it  through. 
We  needn't  tell  we  liked  you  well.     Good-bye — 

good  luck  to  you ! 

You  'ad  no  special  call  to  come,  and  so  you 

doubled  out, 
And  learned  us  how  to   camp   and  cook  an' 

steal  a  horse  and  scout: 
175 


176  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Whatever   game  we    fancied  most,  you  joyful 

played  it  too, 
And  rather    better    on  the  whole.     Good-bye 

— ^good  luck  to  you ! 


There  isn't  much  we  'aven't  shared,  since 
Kruger  cut  an'  run, 

The  same  old  work,  the  same  old  skoff,  the 
same  old  dust  and  sun ; 

The  same  old  chance  that  laid  us  out,  or 
winked  an'  let  us  through; 

The  same  old  Life,  the  same  old  Death.  Good- 
bye— ^good  luck  to  you ! 


Our  blood  'as  truly  mixed  with  yours — all 
down  the  Red  Cross  train. 

We've  bit  the  same  thermometer  in  Bloeming- 
typhoidtein. 

We've  'ad  the  same  old  temp'rature — the  same 
relapses  too, 

The  same  old  saw-backed  fever-chart.  Good- 
bye— good  luck  to  you ! 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE  COLUMNS       177 

But  'twasn't  merely  this  an'  that  (which  all 
the  world  may  know), 

'Twas  how  you  talked  an'  looked  at  things 
which  made  us  like  you  so. 

All  independent,  queer  an'  odd,  but  most 
amazin'  new. 

My  word !  you  shook  us  up  to  rights.  Good- 
bye— ^good  luck  to  you ! 


Think  o'  the  stories  round  the  fire,  the  tales 
along  the  trek — 

O'  Calgary  an'  Wellin'ton,  an'  Sydney  and 
Quebec ; 

Of  mine  an'  farm,  an'  ranch  an'  run,  an'  moose 
an'  cariboo. 

An'  parrots  peckin'  lambs  to  death !  Good- 
bye— ^good  luck  to  you ! 


We've  seen  you  'ome  by  word  o'  mouth,  we've 

watched  your  rivers  shine. 
We've    'eard   your    bloomin'    forests    blow   of 

eucalip'  an'  pine; 


178  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Your  young,  gay  countries  north  an'  south,  we 
feel  we  own  'em  too, 

For  they  was  made  by  rank  an'  file.  Good- 
bye— good  luck  to  you ! 


We'll  never  read  the  papers  now  without 
inquirin'  first 

For  word  from  all  those  friendly  dorps  where 
you  was  born  an'  nursed. 

Why,  Dawson,  Galle,  an'  Montreal — Port  Dar- 
win— ^Timaru, 

They're  only  just  across  the  road !  Good- 
bye— good  luck  to  you ! 


Good-bye ! — So-long !  Don't  lose  yourselves — 
nor  us,  nor  all  kind  friends, 

But  tell  the  girls  your  side  the  drift  we're 
comin' — when  it  ends  ! 

Good-bye,  you  bloomin'  Atlases !  You've 
taught  us  somethin'  new: 

The  world's  no  bigger  than  a  kraal.  Good- 
bye— ^good  luck  to  you  1 


TWO   KOPJES 

(made  yeomanry) 

Only  two  African  kopjes, 

Only  the  cart-tracks  that  wind 
Empty  and  open  between  'em, 

Only  the  Transvaal  behind; 
Only  an  Aldershot  column 

Marching  to  conquer  the  land     .     .     , 
Only  a  sudden  and  solemn 

Visit,  unarmed,  to  the  Rand. 

Then  scorn  not  the  African  kopje, 

The  kopje  that  smiles  in  the  heat, 
The  wholly  unoccupied  kopje, 

The  home  of  Cornelius  and  Piet. 
You  can  never  be  sure  of  your  kopje. 

But  of  this  be  you  blooming  well  sure 
A  kopje  is  always  a  kopje, 

And  a  Boojer  is  always  a  Boer ! 
179 


i8o  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Only  two  African  kopjes, 

Only  the  vultures  above, 
Only  baboons — at  the  bottom, 

Only  some  buck  on  the  move; 
Only  a  Kensington  draper 

Only  pretending  to  scout     .     .     . 
Only  bad  news  for  the  paper, 

Only  another  knock-out. 

Then  mock  not  the  African  kopje. 
And  rub  not  your  flank  on  its  side, 

The  silent  and  simmering  kopje, 
The  kopje  beloved  by  the  guide. 

You  can  never  be,  etc. 

Only  two  African  kopjes, 

Only  the  dust  of  their  wheels. 
Only  a  bolted  commando. 

Only  our  guns  at  their  heels     .     .     . 
Only  a  little  barb-wire, 

Only  a  natural  fort. 
Only  "by  sections  retire," 

Only  "regret  to  report"  ! 


TWO  KOPJES  i8i 

Then  mock  not  the  African  kopje, 

Especially  when  it  is  twins, 
One  sharp  and  one  table-topped  kopje, 

For  that's  where  the  trouble  begins. 
You  can  never  be,  etc. 


Only  two  African  kopjes 

Baited  the  same  as  before — 
Only  we've  had  it  so  often, 

Only  we're  taking  no  more     .     .     . 
Only  a  wave  to  our  troopers. 

Only  our  flanks  swinging  past. 
Only  a  dozen  voorloopers, 

Only  we've  learned  it  at  last  I 

Then  mock  not  the  African  kopje. 

But  take  off  your  hat  to  the  same, 
The  patient,  impartial  old  kopje, 

The  kopje  that  taught  us  the  game  ! 
For  all  that  we  knew  in  the  Columns, 

And  all  they've  forgot  on  the  Staff, 
We  learned  at  the  fight  o'  Two  Kopjes, 

Which  lasted  two  years  an'  a  half. 


1&2  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

O  mock  not  the  African  kopje, 

Not  even  when  peace  has  been  signed- 

The  kopje  that  isn't  a  kopje — 
The  kopje  that  copies  its  kind. 

You  can  never  be  sure  of  your  kopje, 
But  of  this  be  you  blooming  well  sure, 

That  a  kopje  is  always  a  kopje, 
And  a  Boojer  is  always  a  Boer  ! 


THE  INSTRUCTOR 

(corporals) 

At  times  when  under  cover  I  'ave  said, 
To  keep  my  spirits  up  an'  raise  a  laugh, 
'Earin'  'im  pass  so  busy  over-'ead — 
Old  Nickel  Neck,  'oo  isn't  on  the  Staff — 
"There's  one  above  is  greater  than  us  all.** 

Before  'im  I  'ave  seen  my  Colonel  fall, 
An'  watched  'im  write  my  Captain's  epitaph, 
So  that  a  long  way  off  it  could  be  read — 
He  'as  the  knack  o'  makin'  men  feel  small — 
Old  Whistle  Tip,  'oo  isn't  on  the  Staff. 

There  is  no  sense  in  fleein'  (I  'ave  fled), 
Better  go  on  an'  do  the  belly-crawl. 
An'  'ope  *e'll  'it  some  other  man  instead 
Of  you  'e  seems  to  'unt  so  speshual — 
Fitzy  van  Spitz,  'oo  isn't  on  the  Staff, 
183 


i84  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

An'  thus  in  mem'ry's  gratis  biograph, 
Now  that  the  show  is  over,  I  recall 
The  peevish  voice  an*  'oary  mushroom  'ead 
Of  'im  we  owned  was  greater  than  us  all, 
*Oo  give  instruction  to  the  quick  an'  the  dead- 
The  Shudderin'  Beggar  not  upon  the  Staff. 


BOOTS 
(infantry  columns  op  the  earlier  war) 

We're  foot  —  slog  —  slog  —  slog — sloggin'  over 

Africa ! 
Foot — foot — foot — foot — sloggin'  over  Africa — 
(Boots — boots — boots — boots,  movin'  up    and 

down  again !) 

There's  no  discharge  in  the  war ! 

Seven — six — eleven — five — nine-an  '-twenty  mile 

to-day — 
Four — eleven — seventeen — thirty-two    the  day 

before — 
(Boots — boots — boots — boots,    movin'  up    and 

down  again  !) 

There's  no  discharge  in  the  war ! 

Don't — don't — don't — don't — look  at  what's  in 

front  of  you 
(Boots — boots — boots — boots,    movin'    up    an* 

down  again); 

x8s 


X86  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Men — men — men — men — men     go     mad    with 
watchin'   'em, 

An'  there's  no  discharge  in  the  war. 

Try — try — ^try — try — to    think     o'    something 

different — 
Oh — my — God — keep — me   from  goin'  lunatic  ! 
(Boots — boots — boots — boots,    movin'    up    an' 

down  again !) 

There's  no  discharge  in  the  war. 

Count — count — count — count — the    bullets    in 

the  bandoliers; 
If — ^yoiir — eyes — drop — they   will  get   atop   o* 

you 
(Boots — boots — boots — boots,    movin'  up  and 

down  again) — 

There's  no  discharge  in  the  war ! 

We — can — stick — out — 'unger,  thirst,  an'  weari- 
ness, 

But — ^not — not — not — not    the    chronic     sight 
of   'em — 

Boots — boots — boots — boots,    movin'    up    an' 
down  again. 

An'  there's  no  discharge  in  the  war ! 


BOOTS  187 

'Tain't — so — bad — by — day    because    o'    com- 
pany, 

But     night — brings — long — strings     o'     forty 
thousand  million 

Boots — boots — boots — boots,    movin'     up    an' 
down  again. 

There's  no  discharge  in  the  war ! 

I — 'ave — marched — six — weeks     in     'Ell       an' 

certify 
It — is — not — fire — devils  dark  or  anything 
But  boots — boots — boots,  movin'  up  an'  down 

again, 

An'  there's  no  discharge  in  the  war ! 


THE  MARRIED  MAN 
(reservist  op  the  line) 

The  bachelor  'e  fights  for  one 

As  joyful  as  can  be; 
But  the  married  man  don't  call  it  fun. 

Because  'e  fights  for  three — 
For  'Im  an'  'Er  an'  It 

(An'  Two  an'  One  makes  Three) 
'E  wants  to  finish  'is  little  bit, 

An'  'e  wants  to  go  'ome  to  'is  tea ! 

The  bachelor  pokes  up  'is    'ead 

To  see  if  you  are  gone; 
But  the  married  man  lies  down  instead. 

An'  waits  till  the  sights  come  on. 
For  'Im  an'  'Er  an'  a  hit 

(Direct  or  ricochee) 
'E  wants  to  finish  'is  little  bit, 

An'  'e  wants  to  go  'ome  to  'is  tea. 
i88 


THE  MARRIED  MAN  189 

The  bachelor  will  miss  you  clear 

To  fight  another  day; 
But  the  married  man,  'e  says  "No  fear !" 

'E  wants  you  out  of  the  way 
Of  'Im  an'  'Er  an*  It 

(An'  'is  road  to  'is  farm  or  the  sea), 
'E  wants  to  finish  'is  little  bit, 

An*  'e  wants  to  go  'ome  to  'is  tea. 


The  bachelor  *e  fights  'is  fight 

An'  stretches  out  an'  snores; 
But  the  married  man  sits  up  all  night — 

For  'e  don't  like  out  o'  doors: 
'E'U  strain  an'  listen  an*  peer 

An'  give  the  first  alarm — 
For  the  sake  o'  the  breathin'  'e's  used  to  'ear 

An'  the  'ead  on  the  thick  of  'is  arm. 


The  bachelor  may  risk  'is  'ide 

To  *elp  you  when  you're  downed; 

But  the  married  man  will  wait  beside 
Till  the  ambulance  comes  round. 


I  go  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

'E'U  take  your  'ome  address 
An'  all  you've  time  to  say, 

Or  if  'e  sees  there's  'ope,  'e'll  press 
Your  art'ry  'alf  the  day — 


For  'Im  an'  'Er  an'  It 

(An'  One  from  Three  leaves  Two), 
For  'e  knows  you  wanted  to  finish  your  bit, 

An'  'e  knows  'oo's  wantin'  you. 
Yes,  'Im  an'  'Er  an'  It 

(Our  'oly  One  in  Three), 
We're  all  of  us  anxious  to  finish  our  bit. 

An'  we  want  to  get  'ome  to  our  tea ! 


Yes,  It  an'  'Er  an'  'Im, 

Which  often  makes  me  think 
The  married  man  must  sink  or  swim 

An' — 'e  can't  afford  to  sink! 
Oh  'Im  an'  It  an'  'Er 

Since  Adam  an'  Eve  began, 
So  I'd  rather  fight  with  the  bachelor 

An'  be  nursed  by  the  married  man ! 


LICHTENBERG 
(n.  s.  w.  contingent) 

Smells  are  surer  than  sounds  or  sights 

To  make  your  heart-strings  crack — 
They  start  those  awful  voices  o'  nights 

That  whisper,  "Old  man,  come   back." 
That  must  be  why  the  big  things  pass 

And  the  little  things  remain. 
Like  the  smell  of  the  wattle  by  Lichtenberg, 

Riding  in,  in  the  rain. 

There  was  some  silly  fire  on  the  flank 

And  the  small  wet  drizzling  down — 
There  were  the  sold-out  shops  and  the  bank 

And  the  wet,  wide-open  town; 
And  we  were  doing  escort-duty 

To  somebody's  baggage-train. 
And  I  smelt  wattle  by  Lichtenberg — 

Riding  in,  in  the  rain. 
191 


192  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

It  was  all  Australia  to  me — 

All  I  had  found  or  missed: 
Every  face  I  was  crazy  to  see, 

And  every  woman  I'd  kissed: 
All  that  I  shouldn't  ha'  done,  God  knows ! 

(As  He  knows  I'll  do  it  again), 
That  smell  of  the  wattle  round  Lichtenberg, 

Riding  in,  in  the  rain ! 


I  saw  Sydney  the  same  as  ever, 

The  picnics  and  brass-bands; 
And  the  little  homestead  on  Hunter  River 

And  my  new  vines  joining  hands. 
It  all  came  over  me  in  one  act 

Quick  as  a  shot  through  the  brain — 
With  the  smell  of  the  wattle  round  Lichtenberg, 

Riding  in,  in  the  rain ! 


I  have  forgotten  a  hundred  fights, 

But  one  I  shall  not  forget — 
With  the  raindrops  bunging  up  my  sights 

And  my  eyes  bunged  up  with  wet ; 


LICHTENBERG  193 

And  through  the  crack  and  the  stink  of  the 
cordite 

(Ah  Christ !     My  country  again  !) 
The  smell  of  the  wattle  by  Lichtenberg, 

Riding  in,  in  the  rain  I 


STELLENBOSH 
(composite  columns) 

The  General  'eard  the  firin*  on  the  flank, 

An'  'e  sent  a  mounted  man  to  bring  'im  back, 
The  silly,  pushin'  person's  name  an'  rank, 

'Oo'd  dared  to  answer  Brother  Boer's  attack. 
For  there  might  'ave  been  a  serious  engagement, 

An'  'e  might  'ave  wasted  'alf  a  dozen  men; 
So  'e  ordered  'im  to  stop  'is  operations  round 
the  kopjes, 

An'  'e  told  'im  off  before  the  Staff  at  ten ! 

And  it  all  goes  into  the  laundry. 
But  it  never  comes  out  in  the  wash, 
'Ow  we're  sugared  about  by  the  old  men 
('Eavy-stemed  amateur  old  men !) 
That  'amper  an'  'inder  an'  scold  men 
For  fear  of  Stellenbosh  ! 

The  General  'ad  "produced  a  great  effect," 
The  Greneral  'ad  the  coimtry  cleared — almost ; 

The  General  "  *ad  no  reason  to  expect, " 

And  the  Boers  'ad  us  bloomin'  well  on  toast ! 
194 


STELLENBOSH  195 

For  we  might  'ave  crossed  the  drift  before  the 
twilight, 
Instead  o'  sitting  down  an'  takin'  root; 
But  we  was  not  allowed,  so  the  Boojers  scooped 
the  crowd, 
To  the  last  survivin'  bandolier  an'  boot. 


The  General  saw  the  farm'ouse  in  'is  rear, 

With  its  stoep  so  nicely  shaded  from  the  sun ; 
Sez  'e,  "  I'll  pitch  my  tabernacle  'ere," 

An'  'e  kept  us  muckin'  round  till  'e  'ad  done. 
For  'e  might  'ave  caught  the  confluent  pneu- 
monia 
From  sleepin'  in  his  gaiters  in  the  dew; 
So  'e  took  a  book  an'  dozed  while  the  other 
columns  closed, 

And   's     commando     out     an'     trickled 

through ! 

The  General  saw  the  mountain-range  ahead, 
With  their  'elios  showin'  saucy  on  the  'eight, 

So  'e  'eld  us  to  the  level  ground  instead, 

An'  telegraphed  the  Boojers  wouldn't  fight. 


196  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

For  'e  might  'ave  gone  an'  sprayed  'em  with  a 
pompom, 
Or  'e  might  'ave  slung  a  squadron  out  to 
see — 
But  'e  wasn't  takin'  chances  in  them  'igh  an' 
'ostile  kranzes — 
He  was  markin'  time  to  earn  a  K.C.B 

The  General  got  'is  decorations  thick 

(The    men    that    backed    'is    lies    could    not 
complain), 
The  Staff  'ad  D.S.O.'s  till  we  was  sick, 

An'  the  soldier — 'ad  the  work  to  do  again ! 
For  'e  might  *ave  known  the  District  was  a 
'otbed, 
Instead  of  'andin'  over,  upside-down, 
To  a  man  'oo  'ad  to  fight  'alf  a  year  to  put  it 
right, 
While  the  General  went  an'  slandered  'im  in 
town ! 

An'  it  all  went  into  the  laundry, 
But  it  never  came  out  in  the  wash. 
We  were  sugared  about  by  the  old  men 
(Panicky,  perishin'  old  men) 
That  'amper  an'  'inder  and  scold  men 
For  fear  o'  Stellenbosh ! 


HALF-BALLAD  OF  WATERVAL 

When  by  the  labour  of  my  'ands 

I've  'elped  to  pack  a  transport  tight 
With  prisoners  for  foreign  lands, 
I  ain't  transported  with  delight. 
I  know  it's  only  just  an'  right, 
But  yet  it  somehow  sickens  me. 
For  I  'ave  learned  at  Waterval 
The  meanin*  of  captivity. 


Be'ind  the  pegged  barb-wire  strands. 

Beneath  the  tall  electric  light, 
We  used  to  walk  in  bare-'ead  bands, 
Explainin'  'ow  we  lost  our  fight. 
An'  that  is  what  they'll  do  to-night 
Upon  the  steamer  out  at  sea. 
If  I  'ave  learned  at  Waterval 
The  meanin'  of  captivity. 
197 


198  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

They'll  never  know  the  shame  that  brands — 
Black  shame  no  livin'  down  makes  white, 
The  mockin'  from  the  sentry-stands, 
The  women's  laugh,  the  gaoler's  spite. 
We  are  too  bloomin'  much  polite, 

But  that  is  'ow  I'd  'ave  us  be     .     .     . 
Since  I  'ave  learned  at  Waterval 
The  meanin'  of  captivity. 


They'll  get  those  draggin'  days  all  right. 

Spent  as  a  foreigner  commands. 
An'  'orrors  of  the  locked-up  night, 

With  'Ell's  own  thinkin'  on  their  'ands. 
I'd  give  the  gold  o'  twenty  Rands 
(If  it  was  mine)  to  set  'em  free     .     . 
For  I  'ave  learned  at  Waterval 
The  meanin'  of  captivity ! 


PIET 

(regular  of  the  line) 

I  DO  not  love  my  Empire's  foes, 

Nor  call  'erai  angels;  still, 
What  is  the  sense  of  'atin'  those 

'Oom  you  are  paid  to  kill  ? 
So,  barrin'  all  that  foreign  lot 
Which  only  joined  for  spite, 
Myself,  I'd  just  as  soon  as  not 
Respect  the  man  I  fight. 

Ah    there,    Piet ! — 'is  trousies    to    'is 

knees, 
'Is  coat-tails  lyin'  level  in  the  bullet- 
sprinkled  breeze; 
'E   does  not  lose  'is  rifle  an'  'e  does 

not  lose  'is  seat, 
I've    known  a  lot    o'    people    ride    a 
dam'  sight  worse  than  Piet ! 
199 


aoo  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

I've  'eard  'im  cryin'  from  the  ground 

Like  Abel's  blood  of  old, 
An'  skirmished  out  to  look,  an'  found 

The  beggar  nearly  cold; 
I've  waited  on  till  'e  was  dead 

(Which  couldn't  'elp  'im  much), 
But  many  grateful  things  'e's  said 
To  me  for  doin'  such. 

Ah  there,  Piet !  whose  time   'as  come 

to  die, 
'Is    carcase    past    rebellion,    but     'is 

eyes  inquirin'  why. 
Though    dressed    in    stolen    uniform 

with  badge  o'  rank  complete, 
I've  known  a  lot  o'  fellers  go  a  dam' 
sight  worse  than  Piet. 

An'  when  there  wasn't  aught  to  do 

But  camp  and  cattle-guards, 
I've  fought  with  'im  the  'ole  day  through 

At  fifteen  'undred  yards; 
Long  afternoons  o'  lyin'  still, 

An'  'earin'  as  you  lay 
The  bullets  swish  from  'ill  to  'ill 

Like  scythes  among  the  'ay.- 


PIET  201 

Ah  there,  Piet ! — be'ind  'is  stony  kop, 
With  'is  Boer  bread  an'  biltong,  an* 

'is  flask  of  awful  Dop; 
'Is  Mauser  for  amusement  an'  'is  pony 

for  retreat, 
I've    known  a  lot  o'   fellers    shoot  a 

dam'  sight  worse  than  Piet. 

He's  shoved  'is  rifle  'neath  my  nose 

Before  I'd  time  to  think, 
An'  borrowed  all  my  Sunday  clo'es 

An'  sent  me  'ome  in  pink; 
An'  I  'ave  crept  (Lord,  'ow  I've  crept !) 

On  'ands  an'  knees  I've  gone. 
And  spoored  and  floored  and  caught  and 
kept 
An'  sent  him  to  Ceylon ! 
Ah  there,  Piet ! — you've  sold  me  many 

a  pup, 
When  week  on  week  alternate  it  was 

you  an'  me  "  'ands  up  !" 
But  though   I  never  made  you  walk 

man-naked  in  the  'eat, 
I've   known  a  lot    of    fellers    stalk    a 
dam'  sight  worse  than  Piet. 


ao2  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

From  Plewman's  to  Marabastad, 

From  Ookiep  to  De  Aar 
Me  an'  my  trusty  friend  'ave  'ad, 

As  you  might  say,  a  war; 
But  seein'  what  both  parties  done 

Before  'e  owned  defeat, 
I  ain't  more  proud  of  'avin'  won, 
Than  I  am  pleased  with  Piet. 

Ah  there,  Piet ! — picked  up  be'ind  the 

drive ! 
The  wonder  wasn't    'ow  'e  fought,  but 

'ow  'e  kep'  alive, 
With  nothin'    in  'is  belly,  on  'is  back, 

or  to  'is  feet — 
I've  known  a  lot   o'  men    behave    a 
dam'  sight  worse  than  Piet. 

No  more  I'll  'ear  'is  rifle  crack 

Along  the  block'ouse  fence — 
The  beggar's  on  the  peaceful  tack, 

Regardless  of  expense. 
For  countin'  what  'e  eats  an'  draws, 

An'  gifts  an'  loans  as  well, 
*E's  gettin'  'alf  the  Earth,  because 

'E  didn't  give  us  'Ell ! 


PIET  203 

Ah  there,  Piet !  with  your  brand-new 

English  plough, 
Your  gratis  tents  an'  cattle,  an'  your 

most  ungrateful  frow. 
You've    made    the    British    taxpayer 

rebuild  your  country-seat — 
I've     known     some     pet     battalions 

charge  a  dam'  sight  less  than  Piet. 


"WILFUL-MISSING" 

There  is  a  world  outside  the  one  you  know, 
To  which  for  curiousness  'Ell  can't  compare — 

It  is  the  place  where  "wilful-missings"  go, 
As  we  can  testify,  for  we  are  there. 

You  may  'ave  read  a  bullet  laid  us  low. 

That  we  was  gathered  in  "with  reverent  care" 

And  buried  proper.  But  it  was  not  so. 
As  we  can  testify,  for  we  are  there. 

They  can't  be  certain — faces  alter  so 
After  the  old  aasvogel  's  'ad  'is  share; 

The  uniform's  the  mark  by  which  they  go— 
And — ain't  it  odd? — the   one   we   best   can 
spare. 

We  might  'ave  seen  our  chance  to  cut  the  show — 
Name,  number,  record,  an'  begin  elsewhere — 

Leavin'  some  not  too  late-lamented  fde 

One  funeral — private — British — for  'is  share. 
304 


"WILFUL-MISSING"  205 

We  may  'ave  took  it  yonder  in  the  Low 

Bush-veldt  that  sends  men  stragglin'  unaware 

Among  the  Kaffirs,  till  their  columns  go, 
An'  they  are  left  past  call  or  count  or  care. 

We  might  'ave  been  your  lovers  long  ago, 
'Usbands  or  children — comfort  or  despair. 

Our  death  (an*  burial)  settles  all  we  owe. 
An'  why  we  done  it  is  our  own  affair. 

Marry  again,  and  we  will  not  say  no, 

Nor  come  to  bastardise  the  kids  you  bear; 

Wait  on  in  'ope — you've  all  your  life  below 
Before  you'll  ever  'ear  us  on  the  stair. 

There  is  no  need  to  give  our  reasons,  though 
Gawd  knows  we  all  'ad  reasons  which  were 
fair ; 

But  other  people  might  not  judge  'em  so, 
And  now  it  doesn't  matter  what  they  were. 

What  man  can  size  or  weigh  another's  woe.? 

There  are  some  things  too  bitter  'ard  to  bear. 
Suffice  it  we  'ave  finished — Domino ! 

As  we  can  testify,  for  we  are  there. 
In  the  side-world  where  "wilful-missings"  go. 


UBIQUE 

There  is  a  word  you  often  see,  pronounce  it  as 

you  may — 
"You    bike,"     "you     bykwe,"     "ubbikwe"— 

alludin'  to  R.  A. 
It  serves   'Orse,   Field,  an'   Garrison  as  motto 

for  a  crest, 
An'  when  you've  found  out  all  it  means  I'll 

tell  you  'alf  the  rest. 


Ubique    means    the    long-range    Krupp  be'ind 

the  low-range  'ill — 
Ubique  means  you'll  pick  it  up  an'  while  you 

do  stand  still. 
Ubique    means    you've    caught    the    flash    an' 

timed  it  by  the  sound. 
Ubique  means  five  gunners'  'ash  before  you've 

loosed  a  round. 

206 


UBIQUE  207 

Ubique  means  Blue  Fuse,  an'    make   the    'ole 

to  sink  the  trail. 
Ubique  means  stand  up  an'  take  the  Mauser's 

'alf-mile   'ail. 
Ubique  means  the   crazy    team   not    God   nor 

man  can  'old. 
Ubique  means  that  'orse's  scream  which  turns 

your  innards   cold ! 


Ubique  means  "  Bank,  'Olborn,  Bank — a  penny 

all  the  way" — 
The   soothin',  jingle-bump-an'-clank  from   day 

to  peaceful  day. 
Ubique   means  "They've  caught  De  Wet,  an' 

now   we   shan't   be   long." 
Ubique   means  "I   much  regret,   the   beggar's 

goin'  strong !" 


Ubique  means  the  tearin'  drift  where,  breech- 
blocks jammed  with  mud, 

The  khaki  muzzles  duck  an'  lift  across  the 
khaki  flood. 


2o8  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

Ubique  means  the  dancing  plain  that  changes 

rocks  to  Boers. 
Ubique  means  the  mirage    again    an'    shellin' 

all  outdoors. 


Ubique  means  "Entrain  at  once  for  Groot- 
defeatfontein  "  ! 

Ubique  means  "Off-load  your  guns" — at  mid- 
night in  the  rain ! 

Ubique  means  "More  mounted  men.  Return 
all  guns  to  store." 

Ubique  means  the  R.  A.  M.  R.  Infantillery 
Corps ! 


Ubique  means  that  warnin'  grunt  the  perished 

linesman  knows, 
When    o'er  'is  strung    an'  sufferin'  front   the 

shrapnel  sprays  'is  foes; 
An'  as  their  firin'  dies  away  the  'usky  whisper 

runs 
From  lips  that  'aven't  drunk  all  day:     "The 

Guns  !     Thank  Gawd,  the  Guns  !" 


UBIQUE  209 

Extreme,  depressed,  point-blank  or  short,  end- 
first  or  any  'ow. 

From  Colesberg  Kop  to  Quagga's  Poort — from 
Ninety- Nine  till  now — 

By  what  I've  'eard  the  others  tell  an'  I  in  spots 
'ave  seen, 

There's  nothin'  this  side  'Eaven  or  'Ell  Ubique 
doesn't  mean ! 


THE  RETURN 

(all  arms) 

Peace  is  declared,  an'  I  return 

To  'Ackneystadt,  but  not  the  same; 
Things   'ave  transpired  which  made  me  learn 

The  size  and  meanin'  of  the  game, 
I  did  no  more  than  others  did, 

I  don't  know  where  the  change  began; 
I  started  as  a  average  kid, 

I  finished  as  a  thinkin'  man. 

//  England  was  what  England  seems 
An'  not  the  England  of  our  dreams. 

But  only  putty,  brass,  an'  paint, 

'Ow  quick  we'd  drop  'er  !     But  she  ain't ! 

Before  my  gappin'  mouth  could  speak 

I  'eard  it  in  my  comrade's  tone; 
I  saw  it  on  my  neighbour's  cheek 

Before  I  felt  it  flush  my  own. 

2IO 


THE  RETURN  ail 


An'  last  it  come  to  me — not  pride, 
Nor  yet  conceit,  but  on  the  'ole 

(If  such  a  term  may  be  applied), 
The  makin's  of  a  bloomin'  soul. 


Rivers  at  night  that  cluck  an'  jeer, 

Plains  which  the  moonshine  turns  to  sea, 
Mountains  that  never  let  you  near. 

An'  stars  to  all  eternity; 
An'  the  quick-breathin'  dark  that  fills 

The  'ollows  of  the  wilderness, 
When  the  wind  worries  through  the  'ills — 

These  may  'ave  taught  me  more  or  less. 


Towns  without  people,  ten  times  took. 

An'  ten  times  left  an'  burned  at  last; 
An'  starvin'  dogs  that  come  to  look 

For  owners  when  a  column  passed; 
An'  quiet,  'omesick  talks  between 

Men,  met  by  night,  you  never  knew 
Until — 'is  face — by  shellfire  seen — 

Once — an'  struck  off.     They  taught  me  too. 


212  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

The  day's  lay-out — ^the  momin'  sun 

Beneath  your  'at-brim  as  you  sight; 
The  dinner-'ush  from  noon  till  one, 

An'  the  full  roar  that  lasts  till  night; 
An'  the  pore  dead  that  look  so  old 

An'  was  so  young  an  hour  ago, 
An'  legs  tied  down  before  they're  cold — 

These  are  the  things  which  make  you  know. 


Also  Time  runnin'  into  years — 

A  thousand  Places  left  be'ind — 
An'  Men  from  both  two  'emispheres 

Discussin'  things  of  every  kind; 
So  much  more  near  than  I  'ad  known, 

So  much  more  great  than  I  'ad  guessed- 
An'  me,  like  all  the  rest,  alone — 

But  reachin'  out  to  all  the  rest ! 


So  'ath  it  come  to  me — ^not  pride, 
Nor  yet  conceit,  but  on  the  'ole 

(If  such  a  term  may  be  applied). 
The  makin's  of  a  bloomin'  soul. 


THE  RETURN  213 

But  now,  discharged,  I  fall  away 
To  do  with  little  things  again.     .     .     , 

Gawd,  '00  knows  all  I  cannot  say, 
Look  after  me  in  Thamesfontein ! 

If  England  was  what  England  seems 
An'  not  the  England  of  our  dreams, 

But  only  putty,  brass,  an'  paint, 

'Ow  quick  we'd  chuck  'er !  But  she  ain't ! 


RECESSIONAL 
(1897) 
God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old, 
Lord  of  our  far-fltmg  battle-line, 
Beneath  whose  awful  Hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine — 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget ! 

The  ttimult  and  the  shouting  dies ; 

The  captains  and  the  kings  depart: 
Still  stands  Thine  ancient  sacrifice, 

An  humble  and  a  contrite  heart. 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget — ^lest  we  forget ! 

Far-called,  our  navies  melt  away; 

On  dune  and  headland  sinks  the  fire: 
Lo,  all  our  pomp  of  yesterday 

Is  one  with  Nineveh  and  Tyre ! 
Judge  of  the  Nations,  spare  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget — ^lest  we  forget ! 
214 


RECESSIONAL  215 

If,  drunk  with  sight  of  power,  we  loose 
Wild  tongues  that  have  not  Thee  in  awe, 

Such  boastings  as  the  Gentiles  use, 
Or  lesser  breeds  without  the  Law — 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget ! 

For  heathen  heart  that  puts  her  trust 
In  reeking  tube  and  iron  shard, 

All  valiant  dust  that  builds  on  dust, 
And  guarding,  calls  not  Thee  to  guard, 

For  frantic  boast  and  foolish  word — 

Thy  Mercy  on  Thy  People,  Lord ! 

Amen. 


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